Coming off back to back losses to start the current 4 game road trip, the Ottawa Senators complete the first half of their season with a visit to the desert to face the Arizona Coyotes.
What could have been two sets of brothers going head to head will only now be one as Mark Stone will square off against older bro Michael. Milan Michalek might get to visit with his brother Zbynek, but an injury will keep the Coyote blueliner out of the lineup.
There will be some shifting of the Senators' lines, with Curtis Lazar finally getting back in and likely playing on a line with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Erik Condra, a trio that should be fun to watch. Stone, at least from practice on Friday, has moved alongside David Legwand and Michalek while Alex Chiasson gets a promotion to the Turris-MacArthur line. Chiasson has seen action on that unit in the past couple of games but this will be the first time in a while that he has started a game in that spot.
The biggest change might just be on the blue line as Marc Methot skated alongside Erik Karlsson and figures to be in that spot for the most part after playing just over 17 minutes on the third pairing with Eric Gryba on Thursday night in Colorado. Hopefully for his sake and the sake of the team Methot can stabilize Karlsson who has had a very tumultuous year to date.
After being pulled for allowing 3 goals on 9 shots in Denver, Craig Anderson will get the start for the Sens in goal. Despite the team's struggles, Anderson has actually held his own remarkably well (Colorado aside), with a 5-3-2 record in his last 10 games. However, after calling out his teammates following the Avalanche game, the pressure might be on him to have a standout game this time around.
The Coyotes have had a more dreadful season than the Senators, and if not for the Oilers would be at the bottom of the Western Conference standings. They are coming off a strong 4-1 win over the Jets, but they are out of touch with the playoff race and questions surround the future of key players like Antoine Vermette and Keith Yandle, both of whom have been the centers of numerous trade rumours in the past few days and weeks and likely will be donning new uniforms before the trade deadline.
Despite the western start, it is a 7:00 PM eastern puck drop.
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I told you on Tuesday that when it was reported the Senators were looking at signing Todd Bertuzzi to a professional tryout with the Binghamton Senators, that it was already a done deal and could begin as early as this coming Monday. That was confirmed yesterday and the veteran winger will report to Bingo after this weekend. By many accounts, including the person who told me the tryout was already agreed to back on Tuesday, Bertuzzi is in great shape having been working out in Kitchener. A veteran presence in Binghamton won't be a bad thing, and Bertuzzi just wants the chance to prove he still has something left in the tank and show an NHL team, be it the Senators or another team, that he can still play at the NHL level. It is really a no-commitment proposition for the Senators. If it works, great, and if it doesn't, then they simply part ways.