The Arizona Coyotes and the Ottawa Senators are playing a game of firsts
The Arizona Coyotes and the Ottawa Senators have been playing each other for seasons.
Eyes On Isles
As the first team to fire their head coach this season, the Senators were a team that started off hot — but have cooled down considerably. Now, halfway through the season, Ottawa sits ahead of Arizona in points only through a higher number of accumulated OT/SO losses — with sixteen wins apiece, the two teams sit on eerily similar records.
The Senators are 4-4-2 in their last ten games, while the Coyotes are 6-4-0, but don’t let this fool you — with Curtis Lazar expected to be in the lineup for tonight’s game, the Coyotes will be in for a tough time.
Details for Tonight’s game:
DATE: Saturday, January 10th
TIME: 5:00P.M. MST
LOCATION: Glendale, Arizona
ARENA: Gila River Arena
TV INFO: Fox Sports Arizona, CITY
Projected Lineup:
Forwards:
Martin Erat – Antoine Vermette – Shane Doan
Lucas Lessio – Sam Gagner – Mikkel Boedker
Tobias Rieder – Kyle Chipchura – Lauri Korpikoski
Brandon McMillan – Joe Vitale – David Moss
Martin Hanzal DTD; B.J. Crombeen scratch
Defense:
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Michael Stone
Keith Yandle – Chris Summers
Connor Murphy – Brandon Gormley
Goal: Mike Smith
Key Storylines:
–Michael Stone, drafted in the third round by the Coyotes back in 2008, will face off for the first time against his younger brother Mark Stone, drafted in the sixth round by Ottawa two years later. The Coyotes and Senators also play host to another set of brothers – Milan and Zbynek Michalek – but Zbynek is out with injury in this particular game.
–Lucas Lessio could be playing on the top line to add a defensive presence with offensively gifted (but struggling two-way players) Sam Gagner and Mikkel Boedker; splitting Boedker apart from his normal line with Antoine Vermette and Shane Doan (and therefore demoting Tobias Rieder to the third line as well) attempts to distribute the team’s remaining scorepower between the lines more evenly with Martin Hanzal out of the lineup.
–Mike Smith will get his fourth consecutive start for the Coyotes, having won two of his last three games (against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the St. Louis Blues, and the Winnipeg Jets).
-Ottawa has been without winger Curtis Lazar for nearly three weeks, as the team loaned him to Team Canada for the World Juniors. Coming off a gold medal appearance will only motivate this forward to play well.
-The two teams are 14-12-2 over their history, giving them an identical record against one another throughout nearly two decades.
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