The Minnesota Wild are coming off a win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. They won, but were outplayed in one of the sloppiest games of hockey I’ve seen in awhile (not Sean Avery sloppy, sicko). Having said that, the Wild are 8-2 in their last 10 games and have done a terrific job getting themselves back into playoff contention (they are out by 4 points) after a 3-9 start to the season.
Tonight is a bit of a special night, as former Senator Martin Havlat returns to Ottawa. I’m not sure what the reaction from Sens fans will be, but hopefully its a good one. Havlat’s a terrific player.
The Senators injury list includes Nick Foligno, Jason Spezza, Pascal Leclaire, Chris Neil and Shean Donovan. But don’t worry, Leclaire and Neil could be back as soon as mid-next week. Please note there will be no game review for this game either. Game reviews will resume for Ottawa’s next tilt against the Boston Bruins
Here’s our predictions - do you agree? Let us know below.
Minnesota Wild vs Ottawa Senators – 7:00pm EST, CBC, FS-N, FS-WI
Burgundy: Ottawa- 4, Minnesota- 2; Despite playing a second game in as many nights (with travel from the night previous in New Jersey), the Senators will come out with an aggressive forecheck to counter an upbeat Minnesota team. Ottawa will need to execute a similar strategy to the one they did on Tuesday against the Sabres in order to beat the Wild. Look for Havlat to have a great game, as well as Daniel Alfredsson.
Fantana: Ottawa- 4, Minnesota- 3; In order to win, Ottawa will need to do a good job of getting traffic in front of Nikolas Backstrom. They’ll also need to utilize their speed in order to beat a Wild team that have won 4 of their last 5 games. Having said that, I’m looking for Ottawa to come out hard and to play well on home ice. Look for another strong game from Fisher.
Mantooth: Ottawa- 3, Minnesota- 2 (OT/SO); These 2 teams statistically are a fairly close match. Now the Wild have been strong in the last little bit. Plus they have a favorite player of mine, Martin Havlat. Much respect to the former Senator. Goaltending and defensive play will decide if this game is a close one or not. Watch for the Sens to score late in the 3rd to take this to extra minutes. Daniel Alfredsson will have the decider, either in OT or the Shootout.
Stay classy, New Jersey Devils.
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OK, Burgundy got these predictions a little early, because he was heading to San Diego for a News Team Christmas Party. So I’d like to change my outcome a little…
Sens 4 – 1 Wild
Gear sabotage that the Sens did went a little far, and the Wild lost the majority of it. I hear that Backstrom will be playing you Black Ice street hockey gear, so we’ll have an easier chance putting it by him. This little accident might just be enough for the Wild to have some problems adjusting to the new gear.
I think Michalek is due for a multi-point night, his point per game numbers are sliding. 2G 1A.
7-3 Sens. Pizza time.
Sounds like Mike Brodeur is getting the start for the Sens tonight, so it could be a bit of a circus act in the back for Ottawa.
The Senators are also not coming off of a terrible game against the Devils, but it certainly wasn’t a 60-minute effort. If they can play like they did against Buffalo earlier the week, they should easily overpower a Wild team that faced a major inconvenience.
Backstrom should be comfortable with his practice gear (or whatever they have coming to them), so I’m expecting him to be tight. I don’t expect Havlat to be terribly motivated by another return to Ottawa.
However, the Wild are 2-0-1 against the NE division, Brodeur in net for Ottawa… I’m going to say 4-3 for Minny in regulation.
Actually I was given some decent tix for this. Good game. Brodeur played well (sat behind him for two periods), showed good composure and played a solid game, like Elliott in his first NHL start. Will he get another chance?
Alright. My revised prediction was spot on!!! Pay up suckers.
Anybody else get the feeling like Mantooth had something to do with that fire that cooked all of Minnesota’s gear? Haha
Yeah right Mantooth. Yeah right…
Nice MOP! Looked like there was a few empty seats last night. MB definitely deserves another start soon!!