After a disappointing 3-1 loss at home to the Bruins, the Ottawa Senators travel to Montreal to take on the Canadiens and try to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Ottawa: 30-24-5-6
Montreal: 42-18-4-3
7:30 PM EST
Bell Centre
Montreal, Quebec
TV: TSN5, RDS; Radio: TSN 1200
MATCH-UP HISTORY
This will be the fourth and final meeting of the season between the Senators and Canadiens. Ottawa has beaten the Habs twice this season by scores of 4-1 on January 15th and 4-2 on February 18th, both of which were in Ottawa. Montreal won the previous game in La Belle Province 4-1 on December 20th. Mark Stone and Milan Michalek each have a goal and 3 assists against Montreal this season, while Max Pacioretty leads the Canadiens with 2 goals and 4 points against the Senators.
Craig Anderson was in net for Ottawa’s 4-1 win, while Andrew Hammond made his first career NHL start in the team’s 4-2 victory over the Habs. They had save percentages of .962 and .955 respectively. Robin Lehner, who is still injured, was the goalie in the Senators’ 4-1 loss and posted a .862. Meanwhile, Dustin Tokarski has been between the pipes for both of Montreal’s losses, while sporting a pedestrian .917 save percentage, while Carey Price‘s was a stellar .960 as he led the Canadiens to victory over Ottawa.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
MAX PACIORETTY, MTL: He’s the Canadiens’ leading scorer and always seems to get multiple breakaways against the Senators. Ottawa’s defence will need to be at their best to limit his chances, as they’ve clearly struggled to contain the dynamic winger this season.
MIKE HOFFMAN, OTT: With just one goal in his past 5 games, the Senators need Hoffman to bury his chances if they hope to stay in the playoff race after a massive blow to their chances on Tuesday night. It’s not like he hasn’t been close, as he hit the post against the Bruins, but with the season winding down, Ottawa needs its leading goal-scorer now more than ever.
THREE KEYS TO THE GAME
1. DEFENSIVE AWARENESS: Montreal has some dynamic players in Pacioretty, PK Subban, Alex Galchenyuk, and more. Every Senators player needs to make sure they’re covering their assignment in the defensive end, and more often than not take the body. When they don’t, things like the Loui Eriksson goal, where he embarassed Cody Ceci, can happen.
2. LAY DOWN THE BOOM: Speaking of taking the body, the Senators would do well to up their physical game against the Canadiens, and be proactive in doing so. Too often hits are indicative of chasing the play as they come after an opposing player has already distributed the puck. Case in point: the Mark Borowiecki and Eric Gryba pairing running around in their own end, as they did for almost the entire third period against the Calgary Flames two games ago. That means all the Senators will have to hit, not just the ones typically associated with “grit.”
3. BIG GUNS FIRING: For much of the Senators’ recent run, the star players have produced like star players. That needs to keep happening. Both Erik Karlsson and Bobby Ryan going pointless in the past two games can’t continue if they plan to run the table in the final 17 games of the regular season.
PROJECTED LINE-UPS
As per the Senators’ website, the lineups will be:
SENATORS:
FORWARDS
Mike Hoffman – Mika Zibanejad – Bobby Ryan
Milan Michalek – Kyle Turris – Mark Stone
Erik Condra – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Curtis Lazar
Matt Puempel – David Legwand – Alex Chiasson
DEFENCE
Marc Methot – Erik Karlsson
Patrick Wiercioch – Cody Ceci
Jared Cowen – Mark Borowiecki
GOALIES
Andrew Hammond
Craig Anderson
SCRATCHES/INJURIES: Eric Gryba, Clarke MacArthur, Chris Phillips, Chris Neil, Colin Greening
CANADIENS:
FORWARDS:
Max Pacioretty – David Desharnais – Brendan Gallagher
Alex Galchenyuk – Tomas Plekanec – Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau
Lars Eller – Jacob De La Rose – Devante Smith-Pelly
Brandon Prust – Torrey Mitchell – Dale Weise
DEFENCE
Andrei Markov – P.K. Subban
Tom Gilbert – Jeff Petry
Nathan Beaulieu – Sergei Gonchar
GOALIES
Carey Price
Dustin Tokarski
SCRATCHES/INJURIES: Mike Weaver, Brian Flynn, Manny Malhotra
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the game.