Game 30 Preview and Open Thread: Ottawa Senators @ Philadelphia Flyers

With big roster moves announced in the past couple of days, in addition to an ongoing situation with defenceman Nikita Zaitsev, the unsettled Ottawa Senators arrive in Philadelphia as a team in fluctuation.

At practice yesterday, here’s how D.J. Smith’s group lined up:

Here’s what we can expect from the home squad, hoping to get some revenge for the last time these two teams played:

Game Notes:

• Let’s start with some Sens updates. Cody Goloubef (lower body) and Nick Paul (neck strain) both skated with the team on Friday, but D.J. Smith is unsure if they’ll be available to play. Jonathan Davidsson is up from Belleville to fill some fourth line duty with fellow kids, J.C. Beaudin and Logan Brown.
• The Flyers have Nolan Patrick and Michael Raffl injured, and made Guy Boucher proud in their last game by playing with only 11 forwards. We expect that to change tonight, with Mikhail Vorobyev coming into the lineup.
• While the Senators come in on a one-game winning streak after a five-game losing streak, the Flyers arrive having lost to Arizona in their last contest, which broke their five-game winning streak.
• Carter Hart will be looking for a rebound game. He let in two of the 19 shots he faced the last time these two teams played. Meanwhile, with Anders Nilsson struggling, Craig Anderson will play the Flyers for the first time this season. He’s coming off a strong 0.923 sv% performance his last time out.
• The Flyers are third in the Metropolitan Division with 37 points, and feature a number of young talent on their roster under the age of 22. 1C Morgan Frost (20), 1RW Travis Konency (22), 3RW Joel Farabee (19), 1LD Ivan Provorov (22), 3RD Philippe Myers (22), and 1G Carter Hart (21).
• The Sens, having just sent down Filip Chlapik, Marcus Hogberg, and Erik Brännström, feature the following U22 players on their roster: 1LW Brady Tkachuk (20), 3RW Colin White (22), 4C Logan Brown (21), 4RW Jonathan Davidsson (22), 1LD Thomas Chabot (22), and 3LD Max Lajoie (22).
• Because I’m sure you’re all a bit curious about young Erik, here’s an article from the BSens website on his return. He played around 24 minutes last night in a 6-1 loss to Cleveland (CBJ). /

Here are some team and player stats, courtesy of NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick.

Player Stats

Team Stats