Arena: RBC Center
Time: Sun, January 10, 2010 at 5:00 PM ET
League: NHL – United States of America

Last 10 matches: Ottawa 4-6-0; Carolina 4-5-1
Milan Michalek missed Ottawa’s game against Florida on Saturday with an upper-body injury suffered after he was hit by Washington defenseman Mike Green on Thursday. It’s the latest blow to an offense already missing captain Daniel Alfredsson and sniper Jason Spezza.

“It was our first line not too long ago,” coach Cory Clouston said in pondering life without Michalek, Alfredsson and Spezza. “We need other guys to step up. We need to simplify our game even more and just keep working hard and being positive.

“We’ve got a foundation laid that, if we stick with our systems and capitalize on our chances, we’ll be okay. But we’ve taken almost a hundred goals out of our lineup. But that’s still no excuse. We’ve still got to make the most of what we’ve got.” Second of four meetings this season. Alex Kovalev recorded the hat trick on Dec. 12 as the Senators beat the Hurricanes 4-2 in Ottawa. Kovalev’s second goal, a power-play tally with 3:04 left in the third period, put the Senators in front to stay and was the 400th goal of his NHL career.
Clouston said Michalek will miss at least the start of the road trip, and while the extent of the injuries to Winchester and Kuba weren’t known late Saturday, it seems doubtful either will dress for the Senators on Sunday. Spezza (torn right MCL) and Alfredsson (separated left shoulder) are both on injured reserve.

Eric Staal remains on a leave of absence for the Hurricanes. Tuomo Ruutu sustained an upper-body injury Friday against the Avalanche and joins Erik Cole and Sergei Samsonov, who have missed time with similar afflictions. Scott Walker (shoulder), Chad LaRose (lower body) and Joe Corvo (leg) are all on injured reserve.
Carolina captain Rod Brind’Amour scored a goal against Nashville on Thursday and assisted on one of Whitney’s goals against Colorado, giving the veteran points in back-to-back games for the first time since Oct. 21-23. … Zack Smith made his NHL debut for Ottawa on Saturday, taking 14 shifts for 7:55 of ice time and engaging in a scrap with Florida’s Bryan Allen. Goal’s highlights, results and more will be on site, as soon as posible.. stay tuned.