Sens hope for fast start vs. Flames (Jan 26, 2017)
OTTAWA -- The Ottawa Senators hope to keep trends alive Thursday night at Canadian Tire Centre.
Their trends, and the trends of the Calgary Flames.
The Senators are 4-0-1 in their last five outings and in each game they scored the first goal. They are 17-3-1 on the season when drawing first blood.
The Flames, who have lost four in a row, surrendered the first goal in their last nine games. They are 2-6-1 over that stretch.
When the Flames were doused 5-1 by the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, it left them clinging to the last playoff spot in the Western Conference like it was buoy.
"You've gotta man up," exasperated Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan ranted in his post-game media scrum at Bell Centre. "We play well, one bad thing happens, and we crumple. We crumple. Everybody talks about our starts. Our starts? Our starts have been good. One little shot, it goes in and we crumple. We just crumple. We have no resolve to stay with it. We need to look internally here at ourselves, everybody in the organization, and figure out how we're going to pull ourselves out. Because the league doesn't feel sorry for you."
Expected to make his Senators debut is 28-year-old forward Tommy Wingels, who was acquired on Tuesday from the San Jose Sharks for a pair of minor leaguers and a late draft pick. He should help strengthen a defensive game that was sturdy in a 3-0 victory over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
So was the goaltending of Mike Condon, who made 31 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and is scheduled to make his 15th consecutive start on Thursday.
"I think it was obviously a collective group (effort), starting with our goaltender," said Chris Kelly, who scored what proved to be the winning goal, with the Senators shorthanded, against a Capitals team that was on fire offensively. "I think he made some phenomenal saves. We got into some penalty trouble over the course of the game and he was always there to make that save, or bail us out. Guys were willing to pay the price in all aspects of the game."
The Flames defeated the Senators 5-2 in Calgary on Oct. 28, while Ottawa won both games between the teams last season. The Senators are 16-16-4-2 all time against the Flames, including a 10-4-3-1 record in Ottawa.
Former Senators goalie Brian Elliott will likely get the call after Chad Johnson made just 15 saves in Montreal. The game will also mark the return to Ottawa of Alex Chiasson, the Flames winger who spent the previous two seasons in Ottawa before being traded to Calgary over the summer for a minor leaguer, and Dave Cameron, the Flames assistant coach who spent the previous six seasons on the Senators coaching staff, including the last 137 games as the bench boss.
Both teams had a day off on Wednesday.
