Game 23: Carolina Hurricanes @ Ottawa Senators

Tonight's game against the Carolina Hurricanes will mark the first home game for the Ottawa Senators in 18 days. Ottawa last won at home on 30 October and tonight is their last chance to win at home in November. Also, contrary to some earlier rumours, there has been no new scoreboard installed during the road trip.

The Senators will make two changes, with David Rundblad replacing Brian Lee and Nikita Filatov coming in for Stéphane Da Costa. Ottawa did not practise today but according to Ian Mendes, Filatov will play in the top six with either Jason Spezza or Nick Foligno. Here is my guess for the lines:

Colin Greening - Jason Spezza - Nikita Filatov
Milan Michalek - Nick Foligno - Daniel Alfredsson
Kaspars Daugavins - Zack Smith - Erik Condra
Zenon Konopka - Jesse Winchester - Bobby Butler

Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar
Chris Phillips - David Rundblad

Craig Anderson (starter)
Alex Auld

Talking points and statistics after the jump.

Here are my talking points for tonight's game:

• Rebounding from Friday: The Senators were completely awful in Pittsburgh. They were down 4-1 just 9:11 into the game and Craig Anderson couldn't give them a save. Allowing a goal from behind the net was unacceptable and he has to be better tonight.
• Foligno as centre: Nick Foligno will get to play centre tonight. There is much more to playing centre than taking face-offs, but Foligno has won only 6 out of 29 face-offs so far this season. He is coming off a two point effort in Pittsburgh, where he also took an elbow to the head from Sidney Crosby and then called him out for it. I liked Foligno's game and hope to see more of the same.
• Filatov returns: Nikita Filatov will return tonight and will play in the top six. This will be his fourth game in four nights, so it will be interesting to see how much jump he has and how much ice time he gets.
• First game back at home: The Senators haven't played a game at home in a while. It is often said that the first game back at home after a long trip is a tough one. But the Senators had practised at home for a while before the Pittsburgh game. Hopefully Ottawa can come out flying at the start.