Game 73 preview: Canadiens de Montréal @ Ottawa Senators

A preview of the game between the Ottawa Senators and les Canadiens de Montréal on 19 March 2016.

Ten games. That is what remains between us and being put out of our misery. Erik Karlsson has a few individual targets to hit. Mark Stone and Mika Zibanejad are also within touching distance of setting career highs in points. Mike Hoffman has set a career high in points and is one off a career high in goals. Aside from that, there is not much to play for but play they will.

Ryan Dzingel will be a healthy scratch and will be replaced by Matt Puempel while Andrew Hammond will start in net. The Canadiens will continue to be without P.K. Subban who is suffering from a microsprain in the neck. Here is the expected lineup.

Smith - Pageau - Stone
Hoffman - Zibanejad - Chiasson
Puempel - Gomez - Ryan
Paul - Lazar - Neil

Methot - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Kostka - Wideman

Hammond (starter)
Anderson

Some notes for tonight:

  • The Senators are 10th last and two points ahead of the ninth last Canadiens. The Habs have a game in hand.
  • Mark Stone had his seven-game points streak end last night.
  • Scott Gomez has one assist and six shots on goal in eight games with Ottawa.
  • Mika Zibanejad is two points behind last season's career high of 46 points.
  • Mark Stone is six points behind last season's career high of 64 points.
  • Erik Karlsson is five points behind his career high of 78 points.
  • Mike Hoffman, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Zack Smith have already set career highs in points.
  • Hoffman has eight goals, 12 points and 47 shots in 171:15 of power play time while Bobby Ryan has six goals, 15 points and 33 shots in 216:58 of power play time.
  • Ottawa has allowed the first goal in 47 out of 72 games.
  • Alex Chiasson has one more goal and seven more shots than Curtis Lazar this season.
  • After a productive start, Dion Phaneuf has been without a point in his last eight games.
  • Alex Galchenyuk has 12 goals in his last 11 games./

Here are some stats for the two teams tonight. All stats are from NHL.com except Corsi and Fenwick are from www.puckon.net. Note that Corsi is now adjusted for score as well as the venue and event type.

Category Ottawa Montréal
Player # Player #
Goals Mike Hoffman 26 Alex Galchenyuk 26
Assists Erik Karlsson 60 P.K. Subban 45
Points Erik Karlsson 73 Max Pacioretty 53
Shots Erik Karlsson 219 Max Pacioretty 263
Average Ice time Erik Karlsson 29:07 P.K. Subban 26:21

Category Ottawa Montréal
# Rank # Rank
Goals For 2.78 6th 2.62 18th
Goals Against 3.01 27th 2.77 20th
Event, Score and venue adjusted Corsi % 47.7% 22nd 51.0% 12th
Event, Score and venue adjusted Fenwick % 47.2% 23rd 50.4% 15th
Shots For 28.2 28th 31.0 6th
Shots Against 33.2 30th 28.9 9th

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