Man, the Ottawa Senators are the best at impersonating The Walking Dead. Outside of Anze Kopitar's lovely zombie-like exterior, the Senators are in the running for "Oft Injured NHL Team" this season. It's surprising, given how many people they have on the IR right now, that they're playing as well as they are. Since the Erik Karlsson injury at the hands of Matt Cooke, the Senators are 5-1, including wins over New Jersey and Montreal. Honestly, that's nothing to sneeze at. Here's what their injury report looks like.
| Player | Date | Status | Description |
| Jared Cowen | 01/07/2013 | IR and will miss entire season | left hip surgery |
| Jason Spezza | 01/28/2013 | IR and is out indefinitely | back surgery |
| Guillaume Latendresse | 01/31/2013 | IR | whiplash |
| Peter Regin | 02/09/2013 | IR | upper body |
| Milan Michalek | 02/13/2013 | Out Indefinitely | sprained knee |
| Erik Karlsson | 02/14/2013 | IR and will miss entire season | left Achilles surgery |
| Mike Lundin | 02/23/2013 | Questionable for tonight's game | flu-like symptoms |
| Craig Anderson | 02/26/2013 | Questionable for tonight's game | sprained right ankle |
Wow. When you look at this list, you're looking at two of Ottawa's leading scorers, their Norris winning defenseman and their starting goaltender and they are still 5-1 over their last six games. It's actually pretty impressive. With that said, the city of Ottawa must be pissing themselves in happiness due to their medical employment skyrocketing.
But that's not to say the Senators have been quiet about their injury woes the past week or so. Look at Erik Karlsson – he came out acting like a super twat on a play that looked like a board pin gone wrong. Look, I'm not here to defend Matt Cooke and tell you that everything he's done has been an accident because that would be moronic. Comparing this play to the Savard hit is like comparing apples to Nazis, it just doesn't make sense. What Cookie did to Savard is unforgivable, but what he did to Karlsson looked like a mistake.
I know Mike Milbury came out against it, but he also traded Chara and drafted Rick DiPietro so his word is pretty much invalid. So Karlsson comes out and is acting like a super cunty douche – even going as far as not accepting Cooke's apologies. I think it's time to put in your big boy tampon, man the fuck up and let the guy say he's sorry. If anything you should also apologize to the NHL for trying to pass off as a defenseman. I'm still bitter that you won the Norris over Chara and Weber, two defensemen who can actually play defense. Jesus, you couldn't even defend your Norris trophy.
If you look at the comparable though, the Senators are right there with the Bruins.
| Boston | Ottawa | |
| 2.12 | Goals Against Per Game | 1.80 |
| 2.94 | Goals Scored Per Game | 2.25 |
| 13.7% | Power Play | 16.7% |
| 95.1% | Penalty Kill | 88.0% |
The only real big advantage for Boston is on the penalty kill, but they're also the best in the league at it. Everything else is pretty comparable. Look at Ottawa's goals against per game though; nasty. The good people of Ottawa can thank Craig Anderson for that as he leads the NHL in GAA (1.49) and SV% (.952). It's not like he plays with a good defense either. They don't really "shut anyone down". They're 3rd highest in shots against this season with 645 put on goal.
I dont expect a Pile on the Isle type of whooping tonight and neither should you. Given the numbers and the history with these two clubs last season, expect a close game. Probably 2-1 or 1-0, which will cause Mike Felger's anus to pucker because "there's not enough scoring in hockey!". Since when did Michael Felger become the radio voice for the sport of hockey anyway? WEEI, WATCH OUR PREGAME SHOW AND HIRE US TO DO A HOCKEY SHOW, YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.
After the jump, WEEI still sucks…
DOYLive Pregame Show
So tonight I will be running the show :gasp: since Justin and Robb will be going to the game. The show will start at 6pm tonight since puck drop is about 7pm EST. I am happy to announce that Tim Rosenthal from Bruins Daily which means we'll have someone one who knows something about hockey. We're also going to give away some Harp gift cards.
How to Watch:
Blog: Come back to this page at 6:00pm
G+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108411793…
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/DaysofYorr
Can't watch it live? No worries. The player will update itself with the live recorded version once the show is over so you can watch at your own leisure.
Media
TV: NESN
Radio: 98.5 The Sportshub
Online Feeds: Here
Projected Line-up
Milan Lucic – David Krejci – Nathan Horton
Tyler Seguin – Patrice Bergeron – Brad Marchand
Chris Bourque – Chris Kelly – Rich Peverley
Shawn Thornton – Greg Campbell – Dan Paille
Zdangles Chara – Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg – Dougie Hamilton
Andrew Ference – Adam McQuaid
Tuukka Rask
Anthon Khudobin
Game Day Video/Image
Still one of the best Lucic fights. I missed when he routinely did shit like this.
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