NHL
|
Ailing Senators start up road trip in Edmonton (Sports Network) - As the Ottawa Senators head to Western Canada, they hope they left a crippling flu bug behind them. The team will try to snap a three- game overall slide and pick up a sixth straight win over the Edmonton Oilers, who look to win three straight this evening at Rexall Place. The Senators, on their longest losing streak since a five-game skid from January 5-12, will aim to get healthy for the start of this trek. They were without both captain Daniel Alfredsson and Peter Regin on Saturday versus Toronto, while several other players were below 100 percent. However, the Senators escaped with a point in the 2-1 shootout loss. Chris Neil scored while Pascal Leclaire stopped 30 shots for the Senators, who have managed to score just a single goal in each of their last three losses. "A lot of guys are feeling real bad in there," said Ottawa defenseman Andy Sutton. "Pascal was real solid for us out there [Saturday] and gave us a chance to win." Ottawa, which trails Buffalo by two points for first place in the Northeast Division, will hope to have Alfredsson and Regin back tonight, but defenseman Filip Kuba is unlikely to play this week due to a lower-body injury that has held him out of the last two games. The Sens ran their series win streak over the Oilers to five games with a 4-3 shootout victory at home on November 10. Jason Spezza had the game-winner in the deciding phase and Leclaire made 31 saves for Ottawa, which is 7-1 with a tie in its last nine versus Edmonton and hasn't lost in this series since March 14, 2004. The Senators' current five-game win streak over the Oilers includes a pair of victories in Edmonton. Jeff Deslauriers halted 22 shots in that November loss for the Oilers, but he is coming off a 22-save shutout of New Jersey on Sunday, his third blanking of the season. Gilbert Brule and Marc Pouliot each had a goal for the Oilers, who have won two straight on the heels of a three-game losing streak but are still just 6-25-2 over their last 33 games. Still, Edmonton can win three straight for the first time since December 3-11. "We're playing with a lot of grit and determination these last couple of games," said Brule, who has two goals and three assists over his last five contests. Edmonton concludes a three-game homestand tonight and has won four of its last five as the host. 03/09 10:57:05 ET |










