GDP #25: Sens Army V Dany Heatley

D Day is finally here, as the Sens take on Dany Heatley and the San Jose Sharks tonight at 10:30pm at the HP Pavillion. This has been the one game Sens Army has been looking forward to all season, since the Sharks don't visit SBP this season. Most fans want revenge of some sort and a win would be a good start against the league's best team. But to many of the Ottawa faithful, it won't seem good enough unless Dany suffers somehow. Count me in that group by the way.

Unfortunately for us, Chris Neil still isn't available to play, since we all know he made his feelings clear about Heatley this offseason, and of course he isn't afraid to mix it up. Maybe Matt Carkner will take this as an opportunity to endear himself to the fan base. There's also the possibility of the ever fiesty Jarkko Ruutu making an unexpected move on Heatley, with that guy, you just never know.

There is some good news tonight, as Anton Volchenkov finally returns to the lineup, after missing 14 games. And while we're at it, add him to the list of people who might take Heatley out tonight, with one of his legendary hits. With his return, Chris Campoli hits the healthy scratch list and deservedly so. Despite Brian Elliott being slightly injured in practice yesterday, he gets the start in the biggest game of the year.

Not much else to say about this one that hasn't already been said. Every fan wants this one bad and I'm sure most of the players do too. Even if you take away the personal hatred involved in this game, it's still a big for us to see where we measure up against an elite team who's lights out at home. If we can win this one, it would go a long way for our season.

Ridiculous things I hope happen, but probably won't:

-Jonathan Cheechoo gets motivated and drops a hat trick
-Jason Spezza rubs out Heatley in a massive hit, which leads to a fight in which Spezza one punches him
-Brian Elliott records our first shoutout of the season for the Sens
-Heatley is held scoreless, is a minus 3 and takes multiple penalties from which we score and crush the Sharks
-Someone careers Heatley
-Michalek scores a shorthanded winner in OT to silence his old team
-Don Brennan interviews Heatley after the game and makes him snap finally

Prediction: It's a battle of backups as Brian Elliott and Thomas Greiss start tonight. With that said, everyone knows this means a lot to the fans here in Ottawa. Even though many of the guys say it's just another game, how could they not be at least a bit pissed off? I'm not really sure how this game will play out, but I do know I won't be missing a second of it. I sort of have the feeling that either we win in a blowout or lose in a blowout. If we have any chance to win, we will need to stay out fo the box.

Thoughts?

PS- I will be online during the whole game tonight, so feel free to drop by and comment or post questions for me throughout the night in the comments section and I will be answering them there and chatting during the game.