Senators 2, Lightning 1

For already the third time this season, these two teams will meet. Besides a game featuring two offensive stars who are struggling to find their touches (Kovalev, Lecavalier), there's still some bad blood brewing from the last meeting. In fact, the only thing that I'd be willing to guarantee is that either Matt Carkner or Chris Neil will engage in some post-fight showboating. Since the first two meetings were blowout victories (with each team having won a game), I think that a tightly contested game is probably overdue here. Volchenkov and Spezza are still on the shelf, so Pascal Leclaire needs to have a bounce back game after recently seeing his save percentage dip below .900.

Line Combos:

According to TSN's Brent Wallace, here are the lines at practice.

Michalek - Spezza - Alfie

Shannon - Fisher - Kovalev

Foligno - Regin - Neil

Ruutu - Kelly - Cheechoo

While it's great that Spezza's skating at practice and might play tonight, it a quote like this that makes you say yeeeeeesh.

“It’s a matter of whether more time off is going to help,” he said. “If they think that more time off would cure me, then I’ll take more time off and make sure I’m 100%. I don’t know how much better it’s going to get. It might get better by playing and getting stronger that way, we’ll see.”

Alfredsson Isn't a Hypochondriac

The Senators captain's inclination is not to get vaccinated, and for now he says he isn't close to changing his mind.

But a letter he just received from the Swedish Olympic Committee could sway him.

"They said they would like everyone to have the vaccine before the Olympics," Alfredsson said on Wednesday. ~ Allen Panzeri, The Ottawa Citizen

Live Game Blog:

If you're interested in checking out or participating in a live game blog of tonight's game, then come back here tonight. Bring the wit, bring the humour. Thanks to Dany Heatley Speedwagon of Scarlett Ice for hosting.