Silver Nuggets: Senators/Capitals; Michalek back and meets Messi with Karlsson
The Ottawa Senators fought off elimination last night with a 2-1 shootout win over the New York Rangers. Tonight, the Senators host the hottest team in the league (and my pick for the Stanley Cup) as the Washington Capitals roll into town. The greatest player in the world (that's Alexander Ovechkin folks) won't play for the Capitals tonight, but the Capitals have still won 11 out of their last 12 games. Who is going to destroy the Senators tonight? Alexander Semin would be a good bet. He has 12 goals and 21 points in 16 games against Ottawa and a whopping SIX goals in his last three games against Ottawa.
For the record, the Senators will be eliminated if they don't win OR Buffalo gets a point tonight OR Carolina wins tonight. Also, tonight's game will be on TSN and RDS. I just might watch a period in French again!
Lastly, if anyone wants to go to the UEFA European Championships 2012 in Poland/Ukraine, the deadline to apply for tickets is March 31. I love the European Championships more than the World Cup to be honest. :D I just might go!
Here are today's links:
Last game
- Game recap. (Citizen, Sun)
- Stats from last night via NHL.com (Boxscore, Game summary, Event Summary, Faceoff Report, Play by Play, Ice time and shifts, Shot summary)/
Tonight's game
- Game preview. (NHL.com)
- Check out the fine people at Japers' Rink for the Capitals view. (Japers' Rink)
- Six out of seven panelists predict a loss tonight. That will be now 3 predicting a win, and 36 predicting a loss over the last 6 games. (Sens Extra)
- Craig Anderson will almost certainly start as Curtis McElhinney has left the team due to a family emergency. Mike Brodeur has been called up. (Joy Lindsay)
- Milan Michalek should be good to go as Roman Wick was sent back down. (Scott MacArthur)
More after the jump.
General Sens News
- Erik Karlsson and Milan Michalek met FC Barcelona and Argentina star Lionel Messi. Apparently Alfie is also a huge fan but he wasn't around. Sorry Rana. (Picture, Sun)
- Barry Brust is out for all three games this weekend and Robin Lehner will get the start tonight. If Lehner has any hopes of playing in the playoffs, he must do well this weekend. (Joy Lindsay)
- Daniel Alfredsson will definitely travel with the team for the road trip. He may even play. (Scott MacArthur)
- Roman Wick may have been sent back down, but at least he was able to play in front of his parents last night. (Citizen)
- I don't know if this belongs in General Sens News or General Hockey News...but Pascal Leclaire had surgery this week. Recovery is expected to be 3-4 months. (Ian Mendes)
General Hockey News
- Here are some hilariously bad headlines seen at NHL.com last night by Young Ryan. He missed Don't stop Be-Leaf-ing though. (Ryan Classic)
- Let's all laugh at the Habs. 7-0? HA! Three assists for Chara? Even better! Rumours are that the Montreal fans are protesting the NHL's decision to allow the Bruins to win. (Yahoo!)/