Silver Nuggets: Les Sénateurs contre Les Canadiens; Melnyk comments reaction
The Ottawa Senators play their last home game of the season as Les Canadiens de Montréal come into town along with their obnoxious, boorish fans. Note it is a 7:00 p.m. start tonight and the game can be seen on CBC and RDS. This means we can hear the commentators gently massage the Habs behind in both languages!
Last night's games did not do the Senators' draft prospects any favours as both the Florida Panthers and the New York Islanders lost, leaving the Senators in 5th last place. With a win tonight, the Senators will officially not be able to be passed by the Florida Panthers.
As the updated draft probability table will show, we now have a 61% chance of picking outside the top 4. :(
| Draft position probability | ||||||
| Standings | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th |
| 3rd last | 1% | 0% | 4% | 2% | 0% | 0% |
| 4th last | 4% | 0% | 0% | 24% | 8% | 0% |
| 5th last | 5% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 43% | 10% |
| Total | 9% | 0% | 4% | 26% | 51% | 10% |
Here are today's links. Due to the plethora of news today, there are no Ottawa Sun links required!
Tonight's game
- Game preview. (NHL.com)
- The panel is split tonight with three predicting a win and four predicting a loss. Note, Peter may not be leading in wins, but he is leading in the least losses thanks to his Cuban vacation! (Sens Extra)
- Craig Anderson will start tonight against Alex Auld. (Scott MacArthur)
More after the jump.
General Sens News
- Here is a transcript of the Eugene Melnyk interview as well an audio link. Also includes great commentary by Nichols as always. He notes that a bunch of the young players that have been used in a top six role have been John Muckler picks, including Colin Greening, Erik Condra and Peter Regin. (The 6th Sens)
- Wayne Scanlan's reaction to the Melnyk comments. (Citizen)
- Maybe Cory Clouston is being told not to say anything, but he sure sounds like someone who doesn't know about his future and is trying to make his case to stay. (Citizen)
- Our eternal leader, Peter of Ottawa, will be on CBC Radio Ottawa around 4:15 this afternoon to talk about the Senators. (Peter Raaymakers)
- Ryan Shannon was the Ottawa Senators' nomination for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. (Citizen)
- André Benoit, David Hale, Derek Smith, Erik Condra and Colin Greening have been recalled to Ottawa for tonight's game. (Ottawa Senators)
- Speaking of Condra, here is a look at his academics at the University of Notre Dame from a student newspaper at Carleton University in Ottawa. (The Charlatan)
- The Senators are expected to sign another college player, Pat Cannone. (Oxford Press)
- The Binghamton Senators clinched a playoff spot last night with a 2-1 overtime win. (Joy Lindsay)
- Oh and join my playoff pool and predictions! (Silver Seven Sens)
General Hockey News
- Corey Perry scored a hat trick last night to reach 50 goals for the season. He has 19 goals in his last 14 games (!!!!!!). It was also the 7th multi-goal game for Perry in those 14 games. Has he suddenly stolen Daniel Sedin's Hart Trophy? (Yahoo!)
- Marian Hossa (the only Ottawa Senators draft pick to ever win the Stanley Cup!) scored a controversial goal last night that might have saved Chicago's season (and eventually ended Vancouver's?). Was it a good goal? (Yahoo!)