Silver Nuggets: Senators host Bruins; Cowen versus Kadri comparisons

Tonight, the Ottawa Senators host their pre-season home opener, against the Stanley Cup champions, the Boston Bruins. For those of you not attending the game, the game will be broadcast nationally on TSN. Thanks to @luwedge on twitter, I believe this should be the chant of the day:

It's game day, game day, #Sens gonna win on game day (sung to tune of "friday")

With that, here are today's links:

Tonight's game

• Lines for tonight are: 1) Nikita Filatov - Mika Zibanejad - Bobby Butler; 2) Nick Foligno - Peter Regin - Erik Condra; 3) Shane Prince - Stephane Da Costa - Jim O'Brien; 4) Kaspars Daugavins - Corey Locke - Mark Parrish. (Joy Lindsay)
• Defensive pairings for tonight are: 1) Jared Cowen - Sergei Gonchar; 2) Chris Phillips - Brian Lee; 3) Mark Borowiecki - David Rundblad. The goaltenders are Craig Anderson and Alex Auld. (Joy Lindsay)
• The Bruins roster for tonight includes Chris Kelly, Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron, but no Zdeno Chara or Tim Thomas. (Boston.com)
• David Rundblad on what he needs to do better tonight: "I think I learned that the game here is much faster and more intensive than I'm used to". (Ian Mendes)

General Sens Links

• Ever since Brian Burke told Bryan Murray that he was going to pick Nazem Kadri, there have been comparisons made to Jared Cowen (similar to Lee/Kopitar and eventually Rundblad/Tarasenko and Zibanejad/Couturier). Nichols wonders if Murray wanted to pick Kadri after all, and notes the confidence that the Sens have in Cowen versus the Leafs in Kadri. He also notes that one of Zenon Konopka's strengths was face-offs, where he went 7 for 15 on Monday. Lastly, with Erik Karlsson playing 30 minutes a night towards the end of last season and 28 minutes on Monday, is this going to be a regular occurrence? (The 6th Sens)
• Keeping with the theme from Darren's article on Brian Lee this morning, here is another article on the defenceman. It notes that throughout his prolonged benching, he never complained, and when he did get in, he played very well. I don't agree that Carkner provides more bodychecking than Brian Lee, considering Lee had 17 more hits than Carkner in the same number of games. Lee also led all Senators players in hits per game. (Ottawa Citizen)
• Paul MacLean says he will have a talk with forward goon Francis Lessard about his hit on Nikita Filatov. He also added that he should reserve that for opponents. Meanwhile, Colin Greening hopes he gets to play against the Jets next week in his hometown of St. John's. (Ottawa Sun)
• Speaking of Lessard, here is a listing of various Melnyk comments where he specifically said that he told Bryan Murray to not sign goons. The one on 5 April, 2011 was a mere weeks before Francis Lessard was given an extension. Whatever you may think of Melnyk interfering, he can't claim that he gave Murray a mandate to do that (unless Murray just ignored him). (The 6th Sens)
• Jared Cowen thinks it is easier to impress the coaches if he is useful at both ends of the ice and not just defensively. His two goal game on Monday would definitely help, but he accepts that being an offensive guy isn't what he was picked for, he will take his chances when it is there. He also says that scoring goals is the "funnest" thing to do. (Ottawa Senators)
• With all the attention on the Senators young rookies and their older veterans, what about the guys in between? The Senators will need (or hope for) a big season from Nick Foligno and Peter Regin. (Ottawa Citizen)
• Sergei Gonchar thinks this Senators team is good enough to make the playoffs. Also, while he is looking forward to playing the right point on the power play, he doesn't think that alone will fix the power play and feels the Senators need more presence near the net. Ian Mendes thinks that Gonchar can help mold some of the young defencemen such as Erik Karlsson, David Rundblad and Jared Cowen. Rundblad for one is definitely relishing the opportunity to learn from Gonchar. (Sportsnet)
• Lee Sweatt who suddenly retired after signing a contract with the Senators, sheds some light on his reasoning. It turns out that he wants to work in the financial industry, where he will likely make more money than being an AHL player. (CBC)
• If history is anything to go by, Stephane Da Costa will start the season in Binghamton, considering the paths of Bobby Butler, Tyler Bozak, Andy McDonald, Christian Hanson and Rene Bourque. (The 6th Sens)
• The Senators announced their french broadcast schedule on TVA for this season. (Les Sénateurs d'Ottawa)