Right now the Senators lead the season series four games to three while Montreal has had the lion’s share of the shot volume and scoring chances. While Ottawa may have enjoyed some lucky bounces along the way, wins against Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary have felt like some of the only bright spots in another long, losing season in Ottawa so I’ll take them any way I can get them. Ottawa probably won’t win the nerd stats battle but that doesn’t preclude scoring some garbage goals and getting an aberrational goaltending performance to compromise Montreal’s playoff odds. Ottawa ran these lines at practice yesterday:

And Montreal most recently went with these lines:

Notes

• Victor Mete will make his first appearance as a visiting player at the Bell Centre after the Senators claimed the young defender off waivers on Monday.
• In a mixed bag type of deal, Shane Pinto could make his NHL debut with Mike Amadio potentially coming out of the lineup while Jacob Bernard-Docker may sit this one out after an impressive debut with the Senators on Wednesday to make room for known face-puncher Josh Brown.
• Jake Allen got the start for Montreal on Friday so Ottawa could oppose either Cayden Primeau or Carey Price while Matt Murray likely starts for the Senators with Anton Forsberg or Marcus Högberg possibly backing up.
• With Montreal having played and defeated the Calgary Flames on Friday night, the Senators should have the advantage in terms of restedness and they often play in Montreal like a home building so maybe they’ll make it closer than the odds-makers anticipate?
• On another positive note, Cole Reinhardt has signed his entry level contract with the Senators and it kicks in next season. The over-age forward out of WHL Brandon has played this season in Belleville on a try-out basis and played some pretty solid hockey so far.
• The NHL has pushed back the start-time of Ottawa May 12th game against Toronto from 730 to 8PM EST.
• You can catch today’s matinee on TSN, RDS, and TSN 1200 @ 4PM EST/

Stats

Players

Teams