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The Sports Network TSN
(Sports Network) - The Ottawa Senators decided last season that they wanted to
upgrade their goaltending position. Now the man that they dealt away reappears
in town as an All-Star.
Brian Elliott makes his return to Scotiabank Place this evening as a member of
the St. Louis Blues almost a year after the Sens shipped him out of town for
their current goaltender.
Elliott was a ninth-round pick by Ottawa in 2003 and appeared in 130 games
with the club. He went 59-45-15 in that span with a 2.81 goals-against average
and .903 save percentage, winning a career-high 29 games in 2009-10 with five
shutouts. Elliott also went 1-2 in four playoff games that season.
Ottawa dealt the 26-year-old to Colorado on Feb. 18 of last year for Craig
Anderson and Elliott went 2-8-1 in 12 games before signing with the Blues this
offseason to back up Jaroslav Halak.
Elliott, though, has made 22 starts to Halak's 29 and was a participant in
this season's All-Star Game. Both Elliott and Halak are among the league
leaders with five shutouts each, while the former leads the NHL with a 1.69
GAA and is second with a .938 save percentage.
St. Louis head coach Ken Hitchcock is expected to give Elliott his first
career start versus his former team tonight after going with Halak in the
first two games following the All-Star break. Halak notched a 22-save shutout
versus the Kings on Friday and was then dented for two goals on 36 shots in a
3-1 loss to Pekka Rinne and the Predators the following night.
Rinne made 41 saves for Nashville and allowed just a goal by St. Louis' Chris
Porter. For the Blues, it was the third loss in four games and dropped them a
point behind the Preds for second place in the Central Division.
"Obviously, Rinne played extremely well and made some big saves, but I think
the thing we seemed to do in stretches was to get away from our game and try
to find some cute way of passing it around him and that's exactly what they
want," Blues forward Jamie Langenbrunner said.
Halak fell to 12-2-3 in his past 17 starts, posting a 1.56 GAA and .940 save
percentage in that span, and has four shutouts in his last eight starts.
St. Louis, which is 9-0-2 versus the Eastern Conference this year, played
without Jason Arnott due to a shoulder injury and lost the opener of a three-
game swing. The Blues have lost seven of their past nine on the road and will
look to win in Ottawa for the first time since Jan. 26, 2000. St. Louis has
lost five straight as the guest in this series and snapped a five-game overall
losing streak to Ottawa with a 5-2 home win last season.
Elliott started that game for the Senators and allowed five goals on 33 shots.
Anderson and the Sens will try to snap their season-high six-game slide this
evening. The skid is the club's longest since an 0-9-2 drought from Jan. 14-
Feb. 9 of last year and has dropped it seven points behind Boston for first
place in the Northeast Division. The Sens are also sitting eighth overall in
the East, now one point back of the Maple Leafs and three ahead of the ninth-
place Capitals.
Ottawa lost ground to Toronto on Saturday with a 5-0 setback to the club.
Anderson made 35 saves in his 17th straight start as the Senators were held to
one goal or less for the fourth time on their skid.
"This is definitely the worst loss. It's against a big rival for us, a team
we're battling with," Senators center Jason Spezza said. "You hope this is the
end of it."
Ottawa plays the third of a season-high five-game homestand tonight.
The Sports Network