The Ottawa Senators will finish off what has been a disappointing homestand with an afternoon game against the Edmonton Oilers. Having lost the first three games, the Senators finally won Thursday night against Nashville. Today, they host an Edmonton club that is second last in the NHL overall and have the worst road record in the NHL, winning just 6 of their 28 road games (6-20-2). The Oilers will be finish off their their three-game road trip where they have been outscored 10-5 in the first two games.

Oh and it is Hockey Day in Canada, so we might see some chest-thumping about how it is "our" game and such.

Craig Anderson will get the start for Ottawa, but there will be no other changes. Here are the lines:

GO SENS GO!

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The Ottawa Senators will try once more to snap their losing streak, which is currently sitting at seven games. Tonight, the opponents will be Mike Fisher and the Nashville Predators. That's not the only big event tonight though, as the game will also be the 1000th of Chris Phillips' career. Brian Lee and Bobby Butler will return to the lineup in the place of Zenon Konopka and Matt Carkner. Lastly, Alex Auld will start. (!!!)

Here are the lines from Nicolas St-Pierre:

Milan Michalek - Jason Spezza - Bobby Butler
Colin Greening - Kyle Turris - Daniel Alfredsson
Kaspars Daugavins - Zack Smith - Erik Condra
Nick Foligno - Jim O'Brien - Chris Neil

Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar
Chris Phillips - Brian Lee

Alex Auld (starter)
Craig Anderson

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The Ottawa Senators will try to end their losing streak at six-games tonight when they host Brian Elliott and the St. Louis Blues. The Senators skid has seen them drop to eighth in the standings, three points ahead of ninth place Washington with the Capitals having three games in hand. A win tonight will go a long way towards righting the ship.

There will no changes tonight. Craig Anderson starts again, Bobby Butler is a scratch again. Here are the lines from Sylvain St-Laurent:

Colin Greening - Jason Spezza - Milan Michalek
Erik Condra - Kyle Turris - Daniel Alfredsson
Nick Foligno - Zack Smith - Chris Neil
Kaspars Daugavins - Zenon Konopka - Jim O'Brien

Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar
Chris Phillips - Matt Carkner

Craig Anderson (starter)
Alex Auld

GO SENS GO!

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The Ottawa Senators play at the start of January bought them a lot of room for error later in the season. They have used up most of that room now after losing five consecutive games. Ottawa will begin their fifth meeting against the Toronto Maple Leafs sitting three points ahead of Toronto having played three more games. A regulation win and the Senators open up a five point gap, a regulation loss and the lead is down to a single point despite all the extra games played. With Washington's win earlier today, Ottawa is no longer in the top eight in the eastern conference in points per game.

There will no changes to the lineup. Craig Anderson will make his 17th consecutive start and Jason Spezza is healthy enough to play as well. Bobby Butler will be a healthy scratch again for Jim O'Brien. Here are the lines based on the in-game lines from last night.

Milan Michalek - Jason Spezza - Erik Condra
Nick Foligno - Kyle Turris - Daniel Alfredsson
Colin Greening - Zack Smith - Chris Neil
Kaspars Daugavins - Zenon Konopka - Jim O'Brien

Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar
Chris Phillips - Matt Carkner

Craig Anderson (starter)
Alex Auld

GO SENS GO!

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It is game #54 of the season, which means we are almost at the 2/3rds point of the season. The Ottawa Senators have lost four in a row and host the New York Islanders tonight. The Islanders have only one regulation loss in their last six, going 4-1-1 in that span. So while this is a very winnable game for Ottawa, they can't take it for granted. Not that a team on a four-game losing streak can take anything for granted.

Here are the lines for today:

Milan Michalek - Jason Spezza - Erik Condra
Nick Foligno - Kyle Turris - Daniel Alfredsson
Colin Greening - Zack Smith - Chris Neil
Kaspars Daugavins - Zenon Konopka - Bobby Butler

Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar
Chris Phillips - Matt Carkner

Craig Anderson (starter)
Alex Auld

More after the jump.

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The Ottawa Senators, with several players playing on left wing as usual, will return to action tonight when they take on Tim Thomas and the Boston Bruins. The Senators have lost three in a row and tonight will finish off a stretch of six consecutive road games. A loss and the Senators return home with a four-game losing streak and do not play again until Friday. They could also see their lead on ninth place drop to three points. Still, it is a road game in Boston, so another loss is the most expected outcome. But this team has a habit of surprising us doesn't it?

Here are the lines from Sylvain St-Laurent.

Colin Greening - Jason Spezza - Milan Michalek
Nick Foligno - Kyle Turris - Daniel Alfredsson
Erik Condra - Zack Smith - Bobby Butler
Kaspars Daugavins - Zenon Konopka - Chris Neil

Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar
Chris Phillips - Matt Carkner

Craig Anderson (starter)
Alex Auld

More after the jump.

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This afternoon, Team Alfredsson will take on Team Chara in the 59th edition of the NHL All-Star game in Ottawa. After various fan fairs, a draft and a skills competition, it is finally time for the main event. Team Alfredsson will feature all of Daniel Alfredsson's fellow Ottawa Senators representatives as well as all of his Swedish compatriots. This also happens to include all of the Vancouver Canucks players. Team Chara will feature all of the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs participants as well as Zdeno Chara's Slovakian friends.

Ottawa versus Toronto, Vancouver versus Boston!

Team Alfie lines as per...err Scott Hartnell are:

Milan Michalek - Jason Spezza - Daniel Alfredsson
Logan Couture - Claude Giroux - Steven Stamkos
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Scott Hartnell
James Neal - John Tavares - Jason Pominville

Erik Karlsson - Kris Letang
Keith Yandle - Shea Weber
Alexander Edler - Dan Girardi

The Team Chara from Bruce Garrioch are:

Marian Gaborik - Pavel Datsyuk - Marian Hossa
Corey Perry - Evgeni Malkin - Jarome Iginla
Joffrey Lupul - Tyler Seguin - Phil Kessel
Jamie Benn - Patrick Kane - Jordan Eberle

Zdeno Chara - Brian Campbell
Dion Phaneuf - Dennis Wideman
Ryan Suter - Kimmo Timonen

The competitions at the all-star weekend will get started tonight with the skills competition. I am sure we will see lots of goofy things (Jason Spezza is there for one) so it should be an entertaining night.

The event will include the following competitions:

• Fastest skater
• Breakaway challenge
• Accuracy shooting
• Skills challenge relay
• Hardest shot
• Elimination shootout

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