Game 47 preview: Dallas Stars @ Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators will return from the all-star break to resume their quest to finish some where between 20th to 25th overall when they host Jason Spezza and the Dallas Stars. It will be Spezza's first game back since being traded in the offseason.

David Legwand, Patrick Wiercioch and Mark Borowiecki will be the healthy scratches. Craig Anderson hurt his hand (I know, I know) so Andrew Hammond will back up Robin Lehner.

Here are the lines from Gord Wilson.

MacArthur - Zibanejad - Ryan
Michalek - Turris - Stone
Hoffman - Pageau - Chiasson
Condra - Lazar - Neil

Methot - Karlsson
Cowen - Ceci
Phillips - Gryba

Lehner (starter)
Hammond

Some notes for tonight:

• Bit strange to see Mike Hoffman demoted to the third line. I suppose Dave Cameron is trying to create more scoring lines and Hoffman and Pageau should work well together but...still odd.
• Milan Michalek has six points in his last six games.
• After not scoring a goal for over a month, Erik Karlsson had four goals in the last four games before the all-star break. He has had at least four shots in five consecutive games.
• For those of you dreaming of the playoffs, Boston holds the last spot and is on pace for 97 points. Ottawa needs to go the equivalent of 24-9-3 to get to 98. So...yeah.
• Chris Phillips' return means the team is back on #TeamTank tonight. Mind boggling to see him play.
• Colin Greening was placed on and cleared waivers so the team is under the roster limit. Dave Cameron did express his displeasure at having eight defencemen so maybe a trade isn't too far away.
• Robin Lehner hasn't had a save percentage of 90% or higher since 13 December. After a strong start to the season, he has been awful since late November.
• Mika Zibanejad is on pace for 42 points in 80 games this year. That's solid second line numbers.

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from naturalstattrick.com.