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With the Ottawa Senators on a nice little run over the last month(7-3-1 in their last 11 games), I thought I would take a look back at what goaltenders they faced during this run and how the rest of the month looks for the Sens with regards to their schedule.

When you're in the bottom 5 teams of the league, the opposition usually starts the backup goaltenders so they can give their starter a rest and have them ready to play against the better teams. It's not earth-shattering news as this scenario has been used by teams for years but in the Sens case, it definitely has helped their results of late. When looking at the last 11 games, the Sens only defeated one team that had their starter in goal, that was Calgary this past Thursday with Markstrom in goal. Moving forward it will be interesting to see if teams start to take Ottawa more seriously as a team that's trending up, by starting their number one goalie more often when they face the Sens. Past 11 games/goaltender results are below.

Raanta - CAR - L
Annunan/Johansson - COL - W
Sorokin - NYI - L
Elliott - TB - W
Knight - FL - W
Vasilevsky - TB - L
M.Jones - PHI - L
Campbell - TOR - L
Markstrom - CAL - W
Skinner - EDM - W

Looking ahead to the rest of January, vs. Buff, @Pitt, @Wash, @CLB, vs. Buff, vs. Car, vs. Ana, vs. Edm. In those 8 games, I'd imagine they see the other team's number one goalie in at least half of their games. The Sens need to take advantage of those instances when they occur and bank those points in the standings.

One of the hottest topics among Sens fans is what do you expect the team to look like on defense, come the trade deadline. I truly expect the team to waive or even possibly trade Josh Brown(for a 7th rd. pick) by March 21st. If Erik Brannstrom can string together some solid hockey over the next 2 months, I see him being dealt as well. But I do see Ottawa keeping Nick Holden and then trying to re-sign him to a one-year deal in the offseason. I could see Lassi Thomson getting called up again and the team sending down JBD to get more experience in all situations. Thomson has scored 4 goals in 9 games, +6 since being sent down, and has been extremely dominant.

Chabot
Zub
Holden
Zaitsev
JBD
Heatherington or Mete

Ottawa hosts Buffalo tonight and there are no lineup changes according to DJ at his morning presser. The starting goalie will be announced tonight. If it isn't Matt Murray he should lose his job on the spot! This team has tried far too hard to save their investment in Murray. They said they wanted him to get his game back on track and that if you win, you're in.

Buffalo has their 6th goalie on their depth chart starting tonight in Ottawa in Michael Houser. Aaron Dell played in goal yesterday and with Craig Anderson, Malcolm Subban, Dustin Tokarski, and U. Luukkonen all on the injured list, this team is hurting in goal! The Sabres played yesterday afternoon as well, so anything short of a win tonight by the Sens would be very frustrating for Sens fans.

You can watch the game on TSN5 or listen on TSN1200. Puck drop is 7pm EST.

Thanks for reading.
Kevin

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