Four big storylines are converging on 1000 Palladium Drive at 7:30 p.m. Thursday when the Ottawa Senators host the Nashville Predators.
You have the team as a whole on a seven-game losing streak, their last win coming 21 days and about 4,700 kilometres away in San Jose.
There's Senators stalwart Chris Phillips playing his 1,000th NHL game at Scotiabank Place, all of them coming with the team who drafted him first overall in 1996.
Goalie Craig Anderson is being given a rest for the first time in 18 games, with backup Alex Auld making his first start of 2012.
And when you look to the visitors, there's the matter of a certain beloved forward who married a country music superstar returning to the ice he skated for parts of 11 seasons.
When the schedule was released in the summer, the return of Mike Fisher (and Carrie Underwood) was the only one of those plots that fans knew would come on this date.
The gritty forward drew a crowd of cheering children to Predators practice Thursday morning, a day after he stopped by CHEO right after the team arrived.
He was heavily involved in the community and became a fan favourite before being traded for a first and third-round draft pick last season.
"It's definitely been strange coming here into the other locker room," he said. "I've been looking forward to this for a long time, excited for it."
Fisher scored 167 goals and 181 assists in 675 games with Ottawa.
He's currently fourth on the Predators in scoring with 16 goals and 16 assists in 46 games.
His longtime teammate Phillips becomes the second player after Daniel Alfredsson to play 1,000 games with the Senators.
"I'm very proud of it, it's a lot of games and to do it all with one organization makes it sweet," said Phillips.
The assistant captain has 60 goals and 190 assists in those 999 games, with 97 playoff games also under his belt.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Terry Marcotte
