Ahh, snuggle up for the 1992 Expansion Classic!

Well hello everyone,

Let’s start this thing off proper:

HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY BOTH Ottawa Goalies Were Injured in Practice But At Least I’ve Vomited All Over Myself!!!!!!
So, Lehner was hit awkwardly in his left his right both shoulders this morning and appeared to be in considerable pain. Good thing Craig Anderson…took a puck off the knee and was…doubled over in pain…so… If only Ben Bi$hop could have started if Murray hadn’t have made that trade that made complete sense at the time only to be picked apart in hindsight! THANKS OBAMA!
At the time of this writing both goalies appear to be dancing out their injuries and Robin Lehner will get the start against Ben Bishop. I’m hoping for two things here:
1. Lehner isn’t being a hero and is fit enough to play because you know once the lightening hear he hurt both of his shoulders in practice they’re going to be shooting high on him all night long.
2.  Being familiar with both goalies I really hope this thing doesn’t go to a shootout.

Bish is 1-2-1 in his last 4 games but here’s the ruuuub: He’s posting a 0.98(!?) GAA and .969 save percentage on that one win in his last 4. EEP. So obviously if Ottawa can score like 3 goals they’ve won? But if they manage that Lehner will need to allow fewer than 3 goals…He had a pretty tough game against Detroit but facing a goalie who he might  definitely has an ax to grind with could help motivate him. Considering Bishop was brought in because the organization didn’t feel he was ready to take the reins Lehner should be fired up and a fired up Lehner is always bloodthirsty fun to watch!

Well, thanks for reading and — oh right other stuff besides goaltending.

Are the Sens about to play a game where they are the team who can score and the OTHER guys have trouble lighting the lamp?
In a complete reversal from last year Ottawa is actually tops in their division in Goals For while Tampa is in the lower half…only problem is Ottawa leads the division in goals against as well *fog horn* and Tampa is quite strong in this area. THESE TEAMS ARE THE ORIGINAL ODD COUPLE tune into their whack new sitcom Divisional RASCALS tonight at 7:30 Eastern / 8:00pm in Newfoundland!
It will be up to the D to keep from slipping in butterscotch early (hence Lehner starting 😉 ) and for the Senators to take advantage of their fire power. Lucky for them they have some fellas heating up at the right time.
Clarke MacArthur and Mika Zibanejad are both riding point streaks and have crept into the team’s top five in goal scoring trailing only Bobby Ryan (who I loooOOooOOOOOove) and Jason Spezza (who looked FIRED UP last game).
For what it’s worth does anyone else feel like the team has a couple of guys that are DUE to contribute? I’m speaking of course about Cory Conacher (0 goals in past 370 games) and Milan Michalek (0 G’s, 0 A’s). Seriously Cory….you’re starting to take on the spicy glow of “Dave’s Memories of Ryan Shannon” marinade. C’mon bro-bro put one past the starting goaltender that Murray gave up for you!
The 4th line tonight is 9MM-Zibanejad-Conacher. If those three can’t make some noise against whatever garb Tampa puts out against them well…
Mike Hoffman starts off the game with Kyle Turris and Bobby Ryan which is pretty delightful for him. He sure seems expected to play a different role than Derek Grant did.  Let’s hope he takes advantage in time for the Battle of Ontario Derby at the Tires.com Arena on Saturday.
Erik Condra will play on the first line with Jason Spezza and MacArthur because someone put LSD in my coffee.

A Word On Defense: 

I don’t really know at this point. Everyone be as good as Karlsson?

I think this will be an interesting game. It was great to see Ottawa pull out a big road win in front of capacity crowd (like a we should make jokes about attendance) against the Panthers. Getting a ton of power plays and kicking the crap out of Florida (WHO DESPITE BEING FLORIDA STILL TOOK A TWO GOAL LEAD EARLY) is not much more than a mere confidence builder to me. Tonight they are facing an actual NHL team in Tampa. If they can take this one they could potentially have a bit of steam heading into the friendly confines of a Saturday HNIC game against the leefs (that whole thing btw)

Finally, 
You’ve probably heard about the proposed flash mob for the upcoming Sens-Yotes Battle of North America game. It’s a very 2014 idea. A lot of people are poking fun at it but after watching the instructional video I have to say it looks like a ton of fun and you might even catch the WTYKY staff joining in the fray! Learn the moves here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k98bRUOb4g

ENJOY THE GAME!