When: Saturday, February 9, 2013
Time: 1:00 p.m. CST
Where: Scotiabank Place, Ottawa, Ontario
Records: Winnipeg Jets (4-5-1 – 11th in East), Ottawa Senators (6-3-2 – 5th in East)
Television/Radio: CBC, RDS/ TSN 1290
The Story: The Winnipeg Jets visit the Ottawa Senators this afternoon (1:00 p.m. CST, CBC, TSN 1290) looking for early season revenge.
The Sens defeated the Jets 4-1 back on January 19th (the season opener for both teams) so now, three weeks down the road,Winnipeg will be trying to avoid history repeating itself.
Heading into tonight’s game, the Jets are a shaky bunch, losers of four of their last five games , including three straight on the road. The Jets gave up a late third period lead to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night to lose 3-2 and are still trying to rediscover their early season form which saw them earn points in four of their first five games.
The Senators are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes and are still adjusting to life without offensive leader Jason Spezza, who is out of the lineup for the next six weeks recovering from problems with his back.
Jets d-man Dustin Byfuglien will miss his fifth straight game with a lower body injury (day-to-day) which means rookie defenceman Zach Redmond will start his fifth consecutive game. Redmond scored his first career NHL goal on Thursday night, a shorthanded marker assisted by Bryan Little. Redmond has a goal and two assists in his first four games.
Today’s game is the second of three meetings between the Jets and Senators this year. The third and final meeting of the season is in Ottawa on Sunday, March 17th (4:00 p.m. CST).
Al Montoya is expected to start in goal for the Jets today.
Follow @IllegalCurve on Twitter leading up to tonight’s game.
Projected Jets line combinations (subject to change* before game time):
*as of Jets skate this morning, there are no expected lineup changes.
Goalie:
Al Montoya
Forwards:
1st: Andrew Ladd- Bryan Little- Blake Wheeler
2nd: Evander Kane- Olli Jokinen- Alexander Burmistrov
3rd: Alexei Ponikarovsky – Nikolai Antropov- Kyle Wellwood
4th: James Wright- Jim Slater – Chris Thorburn
Defence:
Tobias Enstrom- Ron Hainsey
Mark Stuart- Paul Postma
Grant Clitsome- Zach Redmond
Offensive Leaders:
Ottawa Senators: Kyle Turris (4 goals,6 assists, 10 points), Erik Karlsson (5 goals, 4 assists, 9 points), Daniel Alfredsson (4 goals, 3 assists, 7 points), Milan Michalek (2 goals, 5 assists, 7 points)
Winnipeg Jets: Tobias Enstrom (2 goals, 10 assists, 12 points), Blake Wheeler (4 goals, 5 assists, 9 points), Andrew Ladd (4 goals, 5 assists, 9 points)
Injury Report:
Ottawa Senators: Jared Cowen (hip), Jason Spezza (back), Guillaume Latendresse (head)
Winnipeg Jets: Zach Bogosian (wrist), Antti Miettinen (upper body), Dustin Byfuglien (lower body)
Who’s Next: The Jets return home for three straight games: versus Philadelphia Flyers (Tuesday, February 12, 7:00 p.m. CST), versus Pittsburgh Penguins (Friday, February 15, 7:00 p.m. CST) and versus Boston Bruins (Sunday, February 17, 2:00 p.m. CST)
