The Montreal Canadiens will take on the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night in Ottawa. This will be the third of four games between the two rivals this season, and with plenty of implications in the standings, it promises to be an intense match-up.
It would have been logical to think that the Ottawa Senators would have struggled early this season when they were without captain Brady Tkachuk, but the real struggles came later. The nation’s capital’s team currently stands 10 points behind the Montreal Canadiens in the standings. While they don’t have any notable injuries, they have been without their best goaltender for quite some time. Linus Ullmark took 20 days of personal leave 20 days ago, which sparked all kinds of rumours that more than likely disturbed the team. While the netminder was back at practice yesterday, there is no timetable for his return.
Ottawa might have finally turned a corner, though. They might be 4-6-0 in their last 10 games, but they have won their previous two games 8-4 against the New York Rangers and 2-1 against the Vancouver Canucks. Granted, those are not exactly doing well this season, but the Sens still had to beat them on the ice. Meanwhile, Montreal is 6-3-1 and has lost its last two games 3-2 in overtime against the Washington Capitals and 5-3 against the Buffalo Sabres.
Tonight’s tilt will be the third of four meetings between the two sides this season, but the first in Ottawa. Montreal won the November duel 4-3, while the Sens won the December duel 5-2. The Senators have won six of the last 10 duels.
Neither team has confirmed who will be manning their net tonight, but the Canadiens now have only two options after Jacob Fowler was sent back down to the Laval Rocket yesterday. Samuel Montembeault is the only one to have faced the Senators, and he has a 4-5-0 record with a 3.36 goals-against average and a .877 save percentage. As for Jakub Dobes, he’s never taken them on, but he does have a 14-5-3 record this season with a 3.01 GAA and a .888 SV. While his stats aren’t great, he does win games.
As for the Sens, Ullmark was in the net for the last two games against the Canadiens, and the Habs will therefore be facing a new goaltender this time around. It could either be Leevi Merilainen, who has never faced them, or James Reimer, who was brought out of retirement by Ullmark’s personal leave. The veteran has an 8-7- 4 record against the Habs with a 3.04 GAA and a .906 SV, but he has yet to play an NHL game this season.
Up front, Brendan Gallagher has historically been the Canadiens' most productive player against tonight’s opponents with 29 points in 50 games. Still, he has been held off the scoresheet against them this season. Nick Suzuki comes in second place with 24 points in 31 games, and he has four points in two duels so far this season. Phillip Danault comes in third place with 23 points in 38 games, but he wasn’t with the Habs for the first two duels this season. The Sens would do well to keep an eye on Cole Caufield, who has 16 points in 16 games, including four points in this season’s two games.
Jake Evans, Patrik Laine, and Kirby Dach all joined the Habs in Ottawa for Friday's practice, and they were all wearing regular jerseys, but there is no word on a possible return for any of them so far. There is no morning skate on Saturday, but there will be media availabilities around 11:30 AM when we should get confirmation on who'll be in net and if there will be any lineup changes.
Meanwhile, Claude Giroux leads the Sens in points against the Canadiens with 39 points in 53 games, but he has been held off the scoreboard this season. Both Drake Batherson and Brady Tkachuk have 29 points against the Habs, the former in 30 games and the latter in 31. Batherson had three points in the first two duels of the season, while Tkachuk had two in the one game he was part of. Tim Stutzle is not far behind with 22 points in just 25 games, including two in the earlier meetings this season.
The game is set for 7:00 PM, and you can catch it on City TV, Sportsnet East and TVA Sports. Francis Charron and Brandon Blandina will be officiating, while Devin Berg and Brandon Grillo will act as linemen.
Tonight’s tilt is the last game of a three-game road trip for the Canadiens, who’ll head back to Montreal afterwards, where they’ll face the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday and the Sabres on Thursday.
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