Game 57: Ottawa Senators vs. New York Islanders
The Senators face-off against another team in their peer group in the NHL standings tonight as they take on the New York Islanders, but that doesn't mean it will be easy: The Isles have won their last three games, and scored 19 goals over that span. That's just nutty. Some players I'll be watching for tonight:
- Erik Condra: Contra will make his NHL debut tonight, and you'd better believe he'll be amped up for the game. He'll start out on the fourth line with Zack Smith and Ryan Shannon; will he work his way up?
- Michael Grabner: He's working on a five-game scoring streak, and has nine goals in those games. WTF? Came out of nowhere, and now he's coming up in Calder Trophy discussions.
- John Tavares: On a five-game point streak, with 3G and 6A in that time. Remarkably, his plus-minus over those games remains -1... that takes commitment, I think.
- Brian Elliott: Really, I'll be watching our goaltenders every game from here on out. Right not, Elliott is playing for a contract; after a decent game last time, Cory Clouston's going to give him enough rope to hang himself with.
It should be a high-scoring competitive game tonight, so join us here to keep abreast of all the goals. There will also almost certainly be more Contra references, for the nostalgists out there.
