Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Peepin' Foes: Ottawa Senators

The Rangers return from the Olympic break with a 7:30 start Tuesday in Ottawa with a game against the Senators (on MSG).

Where We Are: Folding our five Olympians back into the lineup for a 20 game stretch run towards the playoffs. The Blueshirts have 63 points in 62 games and are just one behind eighth place Montreal. We may be with Dan Girardi, we may be without him - all of the trade speculation has muddied up the internet (as it is apt to do) so the best thing to do is await confirmation from the Rangers themselves or TSN.

Where They Are: Folding their five Olympians back into the lineup for a 19 game stretch run into the playoffs. Ottawa is 36-23-4 for 76 points in 63 games; they are second-best in the East with a 23-8-3 home record.

Who To Watch For: Daniel Alfredsson was one of the few Swedes to look good in Vancouver with three goals in four games and some great chemistry with Eriksson and Backstrom. Alex Kovalev and Jason Spezza were both overlooked by their respective nations and were sticking it to them with red hot play going into the break. Ryan Shannon was just re-signed and he has pretty good speed off the wing. And you can't forget our old friend Matt Cullen, who the Sens added just before the break.

What To Watch For: Any kind of Olympic hangover by the players who were there, and the ones who weren't. See who had a little too much fun with their break from the NHL grind.

What We'll (Hopefully) See: Chris Drury playing as well as he did for the other team in red, white and blue. Brandon Dubinsky starting his campaign for inclusion on the 2014 U.S. team. Wade Redden having a flashback to when he played in Scotiabank Place and didn't suck. A undercard of Brandon Prust vs. Chris Neil prior to a heavyweight battle between Jody Shelley and Matt Carkner. And anyone kicking the crap out of Jarkko Ruutu.

Also Check Out: If you never read the final post of Sens Army, you should - it really encapsulates the frustrations that come with blogging a team day in and day out. Five For Smiting and Black Aces are still up, as is SBN's Silver Seven.

2 comments:

Icycup said...

What are the rumors concerning Girardi?

Scotty Hockey said...

Some fools on Twitter were saying that he hadn't traveled with the team to Ottawa and that a deal was forthcoming. He did travel with the team but he may still very well get dealt - as an RFA at the end of the year, he is good to move if Glen doesn't plan on re-signing.

Updates to this: No Gabby or MDZ tonight. Enver Lisin and Aaron Voros were both waived. Lisin is still expected to play though while Voros is benched.