The Ottawa Senators, (36-24-4) are in town to take on the Carolina Hurricanes, (25-30-7) for another important game tonight at the RBC. The Hurricanes are red hot and have won six games in a row and 8 of their last 10.
The Senators lost their last game to the Rangers, 4-1, on Tuesday night.
This will be the first game back at the RBC for Matt Cullen since he was traded to the Sens before the Olympic break. Alexandre Picard will also face his former team for the first time.
The Hurricanes will come into this game with a couple of new faces, and without several old ones. Gone are Scott Walker, Joe Corvo, Aaron Ward, Andrew Alberts, and Stephane Yelle.
Brian Pothier will fill in on defense along with recall Jay Harrison. Zach Boychuk will also play tonight. The lines at the morning skate looked as follows:
- Staal, Jokinen, Whitney
- Sutter, LaRose, Ruutu
- Dwyer, Samsonov, Cole
- Brind'Amour, Boychuk, Kostopoulos
- Gleason, Pothier
- Pitkanen, Picard
- Harrison, Carson
Manny Legace will get the start in goal.
The Hurricanes have some special extras going on tonight. The first 10,000 fans to enter will receive an Eric Staal bobblehead.
Also, the Olympic medals won by Joni Pitkanen, Tuomo Ruutu, Tim Gleason, and Eric Staal will be available for viewing in the main concourse outside section 113. For more information, check out this link.
The Hurricanes will also be honoring the Olympians during breaks in the action.
These two teams split games in their first two meetings this season. Ottawa beat the Canes, 4-2 in Canada's Capital city back on December 12th while Carolina returned the favor, 4-1 at the RBC on January 10th.
Jussi Jokinen has a career best 10 game point streak, (9G 4A) on the line.
For information about the Senators, check out Silver Seven Sens.
The game will be televised by FS Carolinas starting at 7. We will have the open game thread up and running at 6:30.