EDIT: Craig Anderson has taken a leave from the club starting today and Condon will likely get the start in goal against Vancouver. Stone is not at the morning skate and they have recalled Freddie Claesson and Max McCormick.
After a relatively busy day off the ice yesterday, the Senators will get back to action tonight as they host the struggling Vancouver Canucks.
The Senators sent Thomas Chabot back to junior yesterday, ending his near month-long stint in purgatory AKA the press box. He played one of the Senators' first nine games, and this is the right decision, even if it comes a little late.
They also acquired goaltender Mike Condon from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 2017 fifth round pick, and demoted goalie Matt O'Connor to Binghamton. Condon provides a little more experience in the backup role, and after playing more than 50 games in the absence of Carey Price last season, is an upgrade over Chris Driedger should Craig Anderson decide he needs to step away to be with his wife. Condon should be in town today and will likely back up Anderson tonight. With the housekeeping out of the way, we can turn out attention to the game at hand. The Canucks come to town having been shut out by Price in Montreal last night, by a final score of 3-0. It was their fifth loss in a row (sixth when you count the shootout loss that preceded the skid). Even worse than that, if it were possible, is the fact that they have been shut out in three of their last four outings. That stretch includes the 3-0 win by the Senators last Tuesday night.
Tonight will be the second of an eight game road trip for the Canucks, one that if the trend continues, could see them out of the playoff race by mid-November even though a strong start has them actually still in a wild card spot at the moment.
While the Canucks will be trying to get off their slide, the Senators will be more than willing to make sure the slump continues and let them break out against the Leafs on Saturday night.
Mark Stone, who left Tuesday's game with an upper body injury, will be a game day decision but you have to think the Senators expect he will be able to play because with Chabot's demotion they don't have any extra skaters on the roster at the moment, but that call could be made this morning after assessing him at the morning skate, which could signify the return of Curtis Lazar or Phil Varone to Ottawa.
The Senators have put together a nice stretch of games, but they have had long stretches in each game that has given concerns. It hasn't really hurt them, other than the shaky goaltending from Driedger in Calgary, but the coaching staff would like to minimize those letdowns.
Other than that, playing the same type of game with even subtle improvements in all aspects would give them a great chance of continuing this winning streak.
Puck drop is just after 7:30 on TSN5.