I know it's the Carolina Hurricanes - the bottom of the league - but teh Ottawa Senators have so many injured players and so many new players and line-up shuffles that it's not going to be easy. Add to that the fact that the Sens played last night, travelled to Carolina and are likely to be tired, and you have the makings of a tough test.



Pascal Leclaire got the nod as netminder for tonight, which seems the best as Brian Elliott was porous last night. Leclaire needs to be stellar if the Sens have any chance of coming away with two points.

The lines have been shuffled again with Mike Fisher switching placeswith Peter Regin who moves up to the top line with Alex Kovalev and Ryan Shannon. Shean Donovan will play on the 4th line for the injured Jesse Winchester, which I think will bring needed physicality to that line. On the defense, Erik Karlsson will try to fill Filip Kuba's shoes (as if) beside Chris Campoli, while Alexandre Picard will step in beside Matt Carkner.

These are obviously the moves of a coach who's doing the best he can with what he has on hand. I'm not looking for a pretty game tonight, just straightforward simple hockey, hard forechecking, and putting the puck on net should be able to do the trick for the Sens.The sad fact is that the Senators have tonight and two practices to get used to the new setup before the Thrashers game.

But for tonight, they're going in cold.