OTTAWA – Goalie Andrew Hammond and his 7-0-1 record as a starter in the NHL will get the night off when the Ottawa Senators play the Calgary Flames at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday.
Craig Anderson will get the start, his first since sustaining an injury to his blocker hand Jan. 21, and the Senators will try and sustain their drive for a Stanley Cup Playoffs spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Senators started Sunday five points behind the Boston Bruins, who hold the second Eastern Conference wild-card position.
"I felt pretty good today and I'm going to give it a whirl tonight," Anderson said. "It's been a little longer than I would have liked, but I've had a lot of time to get some rest and rest some other parts of the body."
Anderson sustained a bruise to his right hand against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the last game before the All-Star break. His recovery has had its ups and downs. Senators coach Dave Cameron announced Anderson would start against the Winnipeg Jets last Wednesday, but Anderson wound up not comfortable enough to play.
He has backed up Hammond the past three games.
Anderson was asked if the hand was 100 percent Sunday.
"Close enough. It felt really good [Saturday] and I had a really good day today. Everything is going in the right direction. I feel that I can contribute to being a positive force on the team," he said.
Anderson said his recovery has been a frustrating process.
"I thought it would kind of gradually get better and then we had a stalemate there for quite a while," he said. "We've really seen a lot progress over the last week and that's been a good thing. It stinks that it was this long. Hopefully it's been a time period I can use it wisely and come back here even stronger."
Hammond has been one of the big stories in the League since taking over the Senators net when Anderson and Robin Lehner (concussion) sustained injuries. The 27-year-old hasn't lost in regulation as a starter, and has a 1.43 goals-against average and .954 save percentage in nine games this season.
When asked about making the switch, Cameron said: "[Anderson] is ready to go."
Anderson is 13-11-7 with a 2.37 GAA and .927 save percentage.
Given Hammond's outstanding play, Anderson was asked if he feels like he has to win the No. 1 job back.
"My job is just to go in there and give the team a chance to win," Anderson said. "Obviously Hammond has done a great job of stepping in and winning games for us and doing an unbelievable job. It's been great to see kind of rally around and play well. My job is to go in there and continue to play as best as I can to give the team a chance to win. It's all I can do is put out my best effort and just try to match his play.
The Flames are in their own playoff battle. They are in third place in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings are three points behind the Winnipeg Jets, who hold the second wild-card position in the Western Conference, so that's how tenuous the Flames' grasp of a playoff position is right now.
The Flames are 4-2 on their seven-game road trip through the Eastern Conference, which concludes against the Senators on Sunday.
"It's two teams that have been playing very well so let's drop the puck and watch a great game," Flames coach Bob Hartley said.
Goaltender Karri Ramo will start for the Flames. Ramo started the first five games of the road trip, winning three. Jonas Hiller was started Calgary's 5-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.
Hartley said fatigue won't be a factor for the Flames.
"They're fresh. They're fresh as daisies," he said. "We had a good trip. We bounced back. It's a mental challenge, that's what it is. If we feel we're tired, we're going to be tired. If we feel we're fresh, we're going to be flying tonight."
Here are the projected lineups:
FLAMES
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Jiri Hudler
Lance Bouma – Mikael Backlund – Joe Colborne
Mason Raymond – Drew Shore – Josh Jooris
Brandon Bollig – Matt Stajan – David Jones
Scratched: Corey Potter, Emile Poirier, Michael Ferland
Injured: Mark Giordano (torn biceps), Ladislav Smid (upper body), Paul Byron (lower body)
SENATORS
Milan Michalek- Kyle Turris – Mark Stone
Mike Hoffman – Mika Zibanejad - Bobby Ryan
Matt Puempel – David Legwand – Alex Chiasson
Erik Condra – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Curtis Lazar
Scratched: Colin Greening, Jared Cowen
Injured: Robin Lehner (concussion), Clarke MacArthur (concussion), Chris Phillips (back), Zack Smith (wrist), Chris Neil (thumb)
Status report: Cameron will play the same 18 skaters for the second game in a row … Hartley said Jones has recovered from the lower-body injury which caused him to miss the game against the Red Wings on Friday. If Jones plays, expect Ferland to be scratched.
Who's hot: Karlsson has two goals and three assists in his past four games … Zibanejad has three goals and three assists in his past six games … Ryan has two goals and two assists in his past three games.
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