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Senators hope to have Alfredsson back against Lightning

Jan 19, 2008 - 2:54 PM Tampa Bay (18-24-5) at Ottawa (30-12-4) 7:30 pm EST

OTTAWA (Ticker) - The Ottawa Senators hope to be closer to full strength when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Leading scorer Daniel Alfredsson, who left Thursday's 5-1 victory over Carolina with a hip flexor, returned to practice on Friday and is listed as a game-time decision.

"I started feeling it in the first (period), and then I aggravated it on the first shift in the second period," Alfredsson told TSN of Canada. "We'll see how it reacts to treatment and go from there."

Ottawa is already without Dany Heatley for six weeks with a separated shoulder - its second-leading scorer - but snapped a two-game slide with the win over the Hurricanes.

The Senators could have a good chance to continue its winning ways against the Lightning, who have the worst record in the Eastern Conference and own the league's worst road record at 6-14-3.

Tampa Bay, however, is coming off a 3-0 victory at Pittsburgh after superstar Sidney Crosby went down with a high ankle sprain in the first period.

It was the first shutout victory of the season for Tampa Bay as goaltender Johan Holmqvist stopped 27 shots.

Vincent Lecavalier is tied for the league-lead in scoring (63 points) with Crosby and Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk, but has not tallied a point in his last four games.