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There was no time to savor a victory against LA, but the Blues have had plenty of time to chew on the loss to Nashville. Not a moment too soon though, the Blues can now work to rebound against the Ottawa Senators tonight. Of course, the big story will be Billy ,er Brian Elliott's return to his old team. Just a couple of weeks ago, he had a chance to play in Ottawa as part of the All Star Game. Of course, that's all about having good things to say about his old team and fans, and making nice with everyone. Tonight, on the other hand, is a game that actually means something. Surely there's an extra motivation in playing the team that sent you away in a trade. When the same opportunity came for Jaroslav Halak, it yielded a shutout win. Let's hope that Elliott does something similar. Not that Elliott can be too mad with the Ottawa front office - I'd think it is safe to say that he's
Better Off With The Blues / Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
The Enemy: The Sens had a pretty good first half of the season, and were one of the surprises of the league. Lately, however, they've gone winless in their last 6 games, with only an OT Loss to the Islanders to show for their recent efforts. Their last game was a 5-0 shutout loss to the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. They are led in scoring by Jason Spezza (20G/ 30A), although he's gone without points since 01/19 (6 games). Right behind is youngster Erik Karlsson with 8G /40A. Milan Michalek is tops in goals with 23G / 10A, and captain Daniel Alfredsson is also in the thick of things (17G / 22A).
As for goaltending, the return on Ottawa's trade of Elliott was Craig Anderson. He's started 48 of 55 games for the Sens, a heavy workload, and has turned in stats of 2.95 GAA and .910 SV%. If they do not start Anderson, then expect to see Alex Auld in goal (3.57 GAA / .880 %). The Sens are in the middle of the pack in both PP and PK%.
Further Reading:
Blues vs Senators coverage
Final Verse: East Coast again, so it's an early start. The puck drops at 6:30 PM St Louis time. The broadcasts are on the usual outlets: FoxSports MW for TV and KMOX 1120 AM for radio. Until then, consider this your pregame morning skate. Gather here, laugh at Craig Anderson-ogling-ice-girl pics, wonder why "Senators" are depicted as military helmets, and enjoy one of the better Bloge Salming / Down Goes Brown videos:
How To Be An NHL Defenceman (via blogesalming)
LGB!
-CrossCheckRaise