Game 35: Florida Panthers at Ottawa Senators
Adnan is on vacation (and at the game with a ton of other S7S readers)! That means it's time for a different kind of GDT. Because stats are for loser nerds, am I right? You want to know who's better? EVERYONE ON THE SENATORS, THAT'S WHO! I'd put that text in green, but I'm too lazy.
So, thanks to Peter Regin's shoulder, everyone healthy gets to play tonight. Someone's getting double-shifted (JASON SPEZZA) because the Senators are only able to dress 11 forwards. That's not good. Brian Lee draws in as the seventh defenseman. That's also not great.
The Senators will be making a big mistake taking the Panthers lightly, as this is a team that is comfortably leading the Southeast Division over touted Cup contenders Washington and Tampa Bay. Still, the Senators have a chance to win: Florida will be missing Mikael Samuelsson, Marco Sturm, Jack Skille, Scottie Upshall, Sean Bergenheim, and David Booth for this game. The Sens need to take advantage of an injured team as they did against the Sabres if they want to pick up two points. Mercy is for the weak!
Here are the lines I made up:
Colin Greening - Jason Spezza - Daniel Alfredsson
Nick Foligno - Kyle Turris - Erik Condra
Chris Neil - Z. Smith - Bobby Butler
Kaspars Daugavins - Zenon Konopka - Jason Spezza
Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar
Chris Phillips - Matt Carkner
Brian Lee
Craig Anderson (starter)
Alex Auld
Players I'm watching:
Kyle Turris - Duh.
Craig Anderson - Played strongly against the Sabres. Is this the beginning of a turnaround for him? The Senators could sure use one.
Bobby Butler - With Regin and Jesse Winchester out, Butler's minutes should increase. That won't be hard, because he was a scratch last game. The question is: What will he do with those minutes?
Erik Karlsson - Can he erase the memory of David Rundblad from Sens fans? Just kidding. Karlsson had a goal and an assist against Buffalo last game, and has an disturbing awesome willingness to shoot the puck.
Jason Spezza - He's been blazing hot with 100 points in his last 2 games. Can he carry the load while the team is undermanned? Is it worth it to play him extra minutes when the team has to hop on a plane and play in Carolina tomorrow night?
Kris Versteeg - Noted Sens Killer.
Brian Campbell - He was Erik Karlsson before Erik Karlsson was Erik Karlsson. Campbell has 3 goals and 23 assists this season.
Jose Theodore - Can anyone believe this guy has 13 wins, a 2.31GAA, and a .920 save percentage? I can't.
Enough talk! Time for you to join us in the GDT. That's where all the cool people will be. Only loser nerds go to hockey games against sunbelt teams. Right?
