home for the holidays? not quite

Posted by Gord Wilson on December 22, 2007

Greetings everyone ... short blog today, I'm fighting a lousy virus that's made me sound like Marg Simpson. Wonderful hair, but lousy voice.

Senators have returned home for one before heading back out on the road for a game against the Rangers tomorrow night.

Tonight, it's the Blackhawks paying a visit for the first time in a few years. This is the one and only meeting  between the two teams. Hawks are a young, exciting team that's getting a tonne of mileage from their young players. They come to town  with a 16-15-2 record and seeded 13th in the Western Conference.

Senators remain in 1st in the East with a 22-8-3 record. They saw their six-game winning streak come to an end after a 3-2 loss to Atlanta on Thursday. After that game, coach John Paddock didn't hide his feelings about the performance of several players.

Now, despite the  loss, four Senators extended point scoring streaks. Daniel Alfredsson now has 15 points in scoring in 10 straight games, Dany Heatley with 10 points in his last six games, and Jason Spezza has a five-game streak on the line. He has 15 points over that stretch. And Randy Robitaille has  three points in his last three games.

The Hawks come to town fresh off a 5-2 win over Nashville on Wednesday. They're led by rookies Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews. Kane leads all rookies with 32 points.

Ex Senator Martin Havlat is back after a shoulder injury and has 11 points in 11 games.

Nikolai Khabibulin will start in goal for Chicago, while Ray Emery starts for Ottawa.

A  7 o'clock faceoff, with yours truly (Gord, not Marge) and Dean Brown with the call.

Talk to you tomorrow from New York.

cheers, gord