I'm smarter than Ian Mendes

...that's what I am hoping to prove this evening. In the Ottawa Citizen prediction panel for this evening's game, Mendes picked the Sens to win tonight's game 2-1. I, on the other hand, am picking the Sens to lose tonight's game.

Here's my reasoning.

Senators 2, Lightning 3

Unlike the basement-dwelling Islanders, who the Sens beat last week, the Lightning are much improved when compared to last season. Though they had a few days to lick their wounds after the loss to Pittsburgh, I expect the Sens will still be tired. The Senators still haven't found their scoring touch, but Tampa's big guns are on fire lately, it adds up to another hard-fought loss for Ottawa.

I guess we'll see the outcome during tonight's game. But you can bet that if the Sens lose, and I win, Mendes will never hear the end of it. (His email is pretty easy to guess.)