home for 1

Posted by Gord Wilson on December 15, 2007

Greetings everyone from the friendly confines of Scotiabank Place. Nice to be home ... albeit only for one day.  After a very successful road trip that saw the Senators secure 9 of a possible 10 points, the  Senators have returned  home for a game against the Atlanta Thrashers. This is game 3 of a four-game  series, with Ottawa winning the first two games 3-1 and 6-4. The 6-4 win was the game Nov. 1, when  Ottawa had a 5-0 lead, then watched it  slip away as Ilya Kovalchuk scored three in the third period to make things closer than it should have been. In any case, it was a win.

Senators are coming off an impressive two-game stretch that saw them outscore Carolina and Pittsburgh by a combined 10-1 score. As impressive as the offence was, so, too, was the goaltending, led by Martin Gerber. He was particularly brilliant in the Pittsburgh victory, making 13 saves in the first period alone.

Funny little story about that game ... Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza each had a pair of goals, Spezza  finished with four points. Naturally, reporters wanted to talk to  both players after the game.

Daniel Alfredsson had but one assist in the game, but it was a milestone 800th point of his career. He saw reporters huddled around Spezza and Heatley and walked by, wondering aloud if anyone wanted to talk to him. None of the reporters knew he had just picked up his 800th point, so he got a bit of a chuckle over that. In any case, congrats to No. 11.

As for tonight's game ... we'll find out later today whether Brian McGrattan is able to play. He injured his shoulder in a fight with Georges Laraque on Thursday.

Martin Gerber will start in goal, he's 14-4-1 on the year. Johan Hedberg is expected to start for Atlanta.  Thrashers were 4-0 losers on home ice to Toronto last night ... they've now lost three straight and are back to two points below 500.

Here's a little bit of trivial news to help you get through your day. The artwork on Hedberg's mask, primarily a moose because that's his nickname, was done by a Swedish artist named Dave Gunnarson. He's also done the work on Henrik Lundqvist's mask and ... Martin Gerber's painted mask that he's yet  to use.

Now you know the rest of the story.

All right, 7 o'clock faceoff tonight ... as always, it can be heard on the Team 1200 radio network, with yours truly and the man himself, Mr. Dean Brown.

Enjoy the game everyone.

cheers, gord