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Two teams coming off rather sub-par, if not embarrassing, performances will be looking to get back on track at Canadian Tire Centre as the Senators host the Red Wings for the opening game in a 4 game homestand.

The Senators dropped a 4-2 decision on Saturday night in Boston, to an injury riddled Bruins club, while the Red Wings fell 3-2 to the lowly Buffalo Sabres in a shootout on Sunday night.

Craig Anderson will get the call in net for the Senators, as he looks to bounce back from his last game, a 5-4 shootout loss to the Blackhawks on Thursday. Anderson is 3-5 in 11 career appearances against Detroit. The Senators' have relied heavily on their netminders this season, and in the last two games they have struggled, so Anderson needs to get back to his level of his first 4 starts and make the last one the exception rather than the rule.

His teammates can help him out in that regard by not hanging their goalie out to dry, which is exactly what happened in the last game against the Bruins. Multiple turnovers in the defensive zone resulted in scoring chances against, and Boston capitalized.

Paul MacLean addressed the problems and indicated that a stronger forecheck is needed to keep the opposition playing more defense, and that will cut down on the chances and shots against, because after all it is tough to score 120 feet from the net. That is all well and good, and I said after the last game that a lot of Senators rushes are of the "one and done" variety. But, if 50% of the passes made to try and get the puck out of your own zone are behind the intended receiver or into a crowd, then your zone exits are still a problem and you can't forecheck when you are backpedaling.

For the Senators, the most noticeable lines of late have been the top line of Clarke MacArthur, Kyle Turris and Bobby Ryan as well as the kid line of Mike Hoffman, Curtis Lazar and Mark Stone. MacArthur has 3 goals and an assist in his last three games while Stone and Mika Zibanejad have each scored in back to back games and will look to extend their streaks to 3.

The biggest need for the Senators is a bounce-back game from Erik Karlsson. The Captain was dreadful on Saturday night, with a well earned -4. Knowing how he is, you can expect that he has already forgotten that night and is ready for the next one. Don't expect him to change his style much, but just a half step better and thing will be different.

For the Red Wings, so much for the talk of them getting old. The top line of Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Justin Abdelkader has been on fire. Datsyuk, who missed the first 5 games of the season, looks like he hasn't missed a beat and has a goal in each of his last 4 games. Zetterberg leads the team with 14 points and Abdelkader is the guy who does the dirty work on that line, while playing on the edge and sometimes over it.

The Senators might want to shadow Johan Franzen in this game. Franzen has been a Senators killer over the years, and has 12 goals in 9 career games against Ottawa. He scored in bunches against the Sens, including the memorable 5 goal game on February 2, 2011 and a hat trick last season. Hopefully it isn't Groundhog Day for Fanzen against the Sens. Actually, that hat trick came in February as well, so on second thought a November game might not make Franzen as dangerous.

Jimmy Howard will be in net for Detroit. He has had a great start to his season, losing only once in regulation among 9 starts, and has allowed 2 or fewer goals in 7 of those games. He has never been overly successful against Ottawa, with a 3-2 record but a GAA of 3.78 and a SP of just .880.

In the battle of the special teams, Detroit has the best penalty killing unit in the league, wit a 94.7% success rate. Ottawa's PK sits just outside the top 10, at 83.3%. On the other hand, despite the offensive talents the Red Wings have at their disposal, their power play has been a very pedestrian 11.6% firmly in the bottom third of the league while the Senators have clawed their way up to an even 20%, good for 12th in the league.

This is a very important early-season game for the Senators to come away with two points, preferably in regulation. They trail the Wings by 3 in the standings, with a game in hand. Narrow that gap to 1 and then win the game in hand, and the Senators are in good shape. Drop this one and the margin becomes 5 points, the game in hand doesn't mean as much and the Senators are left chasing a team they expect to be battling with for positioning, and very possibly a playoff spot.

ALFIE FINISHED?


Noticeable by his absence will be Daniel Alfredsson, who remains unsigned by the Wings. As each day goes by, the likelihood that his career might be over increases. After tonight the Wings will be 12 games into their season, and it would be a lot to ask anyone to get up to full speed without a training camp, let alone a 41 year old who will be 42 in just over a month. Alfredsson has tried to skate on his own, but apparently hasn't been able to get the strength back in his legs as a result of his nagging back injury. It looks like it might be the end of the line for Alfredsson, who is reportedly leaning towards hanging up his skates for good. All things being equal, and as the hurt (and in some cases ire) over his leaving Ottawa and the way it happened fades, it shouldn't be too long before he sees his #11 raised to the rafters at CTC.

The game will be on TSN 5 in the Senators region, with puck drop scheduled for shortly after 7:30 pm.

Predictions?

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