Craig Anderson ended another temporary leave of absence on Saturday, and he sticks with the team on this mini road trip that opens up in Nashville Tuesday night. He will get the start, and will be looking for some extra goal support because he can't pitch a shutout every night.
The Senators pay a visit to Nashville, where the Predators sport a 2-1-1 home record which is far better than their 1-4-2 record on the road. Nashville has recorded points in their last 3 games, so they are overcoming a very tough start.
Nashville's first year captain and former Senators centre Mike Fisher has missed the last 2 games with an upper body injury and will be a game day decision as to whether or not he gets to face his former club.
Filip Forsberg is still awaiting his first goal of the season, but still leads the club with seven assists and seven points. Craig Smith leads the Predators with five goals and is awaiting his first assist of the seaosn.
The biggest change for the Predators is obviously the Shea Weber for P.K. Subban trade, and so far Subban has made his biggest and best impact on the power play. Five of his six points are on the man advantage, while he is a -7 overall at even strength.
The Senators will be well served to stay out of the penalty box, as led by Subban the Predators have the second best power play in the league at an impressive 28.6%. If they can force the Predators into penalty trouble themselves it will be all the better as Nashville's PK is fourth worst in the league.
Ottawa can fall back on the fact that their last road trip was a successful one, going 2-1 with perhaps their most well rounded game on the ice being the one they lost but Andrew Hammond's injury forced Chris Driedger into action he probably wasn't ready for.
Anderson has been stellar (aside from the winning goal on Saturday against Buffalo) since the battle his wife if fighting was made public. Credit him for sticking around and going on the road trip with the team, something I didn't expect heading in. I was a little critical of his in-out process on Sunday and how it may affect the rest of the group, but it looks like he will plan to be in more than out as long as he can.
Puck drop is At 8:00 PM on TSN5