Senators-Rangers bring it to Ottawa tonight

The New York Rangers and the Ottawa Senators split 2 games at Madsion Square Garden in the first-round Eastern Conference series this past week. It all comes Ottawa’s Scotiabank Place for game 3 tonight. And media reports, like this article from the Globe and Mail, say it’s getting pretty hot and heavy, especially after Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson was injured in game 2.

It was not clear Sunday whether Alfredsson would return to the lineup. The injury could conceivably have a galvanizing effect on the team, should captain-in-waiting Jason Spezza be able to elevate his game to compensate.

“It’s going to get more intense as the series goes on,” Spezza predicted. “The temperature is obviously rising.”

“It’s going to get elevated every night,” Boyle of the Rangers promised.

Regardless of whatever action Shanahan might take, it seemed the tone had been set for the rest of the series.

“This is old time hockey,” said Zenon Konopka, a serial fighter also inserted into Ottawa’s lineup Saturday. “There are going to be a lot of stitches and blood before this one is done. It’s going to be a fun series.”

Meanwhile, the Toronto Star reports that

Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson was back on the ice on Monday, taking in the morning skate prior to Monday night’s Game 3.

And that’s sure to get the blood boiling of the New York Rangers, who’ll be without the services of winger Carl Hagelin.

Hagelin was suspended for three games for elbowing Alfredsson in Game 2. Alfredsson, who has a history of concussion problems, left the game and did not return.

NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan said in an interview on a New York radio station that he was told by Ottawa doctors that Alfredsson’s status was unknown, that he could be out a day or a year

Any comments on this match up, the officiating and suspension, or predictions on the outcome?

Tags: canada, hockey, NY Rangers, Ottawa Senators, sports