Game 26- Penguins @ Ottawa Senators

The Pens will visit Scotiabank Place in Kanata, Ontario on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 for a tilt with the Senators in an attempt to finish off strong what has been a solid road trip so far. Ottawa is the same one line team they've always been--Alfreddson, Heatley, and Spezza are elite players, but after that, there is nothing there.

Alex Auld has played well of late, but he is still no more than a career backup. Antoine Vermette is a good penalty killer, and Mike Fisher is a joke. Jesse Winchester is a winger with lots of skill, but like many Senators, he just hasn't been able to put it all together.

The Ottawa defense is horrid. Chris Phillips and Jason Smith are pylons, Alex Picard is atrocious in his own end, and the only legit guys they have back there are Fillip Kuba and Anton Volchenkov. Kuba has been a nice surprise, putting up solid offensive numbers...a lot of assists. Volchenkov is a rock and tough as nails.

Like I said, the back end is week for Ottawa, and Crosby and Malkin should be able to feast on them. The real key here is to contain the top line of Heatley-Spezza-Alfreddson.

The Pens will be without Tyler Kennedy for the next 4-6 weeks after Kennedy suffered a sprained knee in New York on Wednesday. This is a tough loss, but the Pens have dealt with much worse in recent years.

While Kennedy is out, it is likely that Chris Minard will stick with the team for a few weeks and take TK's spot on the third line with Matt Cooke and Jordan Staal. He's been a beast in the AHL, and he should be able to handle his new role. It will be a great test for him.

Mike Zigomanis' status is unknown, but more likely than not he will be out as well for this one. Ziggy looks to be back much sooner than Kennedy though, and that's a major positive.

Phillipe Boucher is still hurt.

If Ziggy does miss this game, Janne Pesonen will stay in the lineup.

Dany Sabourin will be in goal for Pittsburgh against Auld for Ottawa.

Penguins-

Dupuis-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Minard
Pesonen-Talbot-Godard

Orpik-Letang
Scuderi-Gill
Goligoski-Eaton

Sabourin

Senators-

Heatley - Spezza - Alfredsson
Vermette - Fisher - Donovan
Foligno - Kelly - Winchester
Ruutu - Bass - Neil

Phillips - Kuba
Schubert - Volchenkov
Smith - Picard

Auld

GO PENS!