Game 71: New Jersey Devils at Ottawa Senators
Time for Erik Condra to score two goals again! The Devils and Senators rematch just nine days after Condra scored both goals in a 2-1 Senators win. New Jersey has not lost since that game, while Ottawa has gone just 2-2 in the four games since that meeting.
Craig Anderson misses this game due to injury, and that's huge, because the Senators won the last meeting largely on the strength of his 31-save performance. On the other side, John Fischer of In Lou We Trust predicts we'll be seeing Martin Brodeur in net. So, in conclusion: Draft fans, this is going to be a night you'll probably enjoy.
Who will I be watching?
- David Hale - Andre Benoit was not strong in his one-game audition with the big club. Hale, on the other hand, has been solid in most of his games this year. He'll need to keep up that play if he wants to see more than one NHL game in his current stint.
- Roman Wick - Although he will most likely only see fourth line minutes, Wick bears watching. He scored both of Binghamton's goals in a 5-2 loss last night. The pressure will be on for him to show he can produce even when anchored down by Francis Lessard.
- Curtis McElhinney - Was strong in his only other start, a 2-1 win against Tampa Bay. He's going to need to play even better if Ottawa is going to make a game of it tonight.
- Ilya Kovalchuk and Chris Phillips - Phillips won this matchup the last game, and he'll have to again. That's a taller task than usual for Big Game Chris, as he's struggled mightily in his last two games.
- Patrik Elias - Scored New Jersey's lone goal last time around, and has a long history of being a Sens Killer. Good luck covering him, Brian Lee.
- Jason Spezza - How will he bounce back from being held pointless against Pittsburgh?
As always, your presence is required in the comments section, where we'll spend a lot of time discussing future draft picks in speculative statements that will ultimately turn out to be meaningless when Ottawa doesn't wind up picking where we thought they would.
