Game 14: Montréal Canadiens @ Ottawa Senators
Ce soir, les Sénateurs d'Ottawa vont jouer contre les Canadiens de Montréal. This continues a stretch where the Senators play every team in their division. Having beaten the Maple Leafs 3-2, lost to the Bruins 5-3, the Senators will host Buffalo tomorrow.
Back to tonight's game, the Canadiens have won three in a row following a six-game losing streak. The Habs sit four points behind an Ottawa club that is surprisingly sitting in a playoff spot. Ottawa has been very strong at home as of late, winning four in a row at Scotiabank Place. The Senators make three changes, Kaspars Daugavins replaces Zenon Konopka, Brian Lee plays for David Rundblad and Robin Lehner has been sent back to Binghamton, so Alex Auld will backup Craig Anderson.
Herea are the lines.
Colin Greening - Jason Spezza - Milan Michalek
Nick Foligno - Stéphane Da Costa - Bobby Butler
Kaspars Daugvins - Zack Smith - Chris Neil
Erik Condra - Jesse Winchester - Nikita Filatov
Filip Kuba - Erik Karlsson
Sergei Gonchar - Jared Cowen
Chris Phillips - Brian Lee
Craig Anderson (starter)
Alex Auld
Stats and talking points after the jump.
Here are my talking points:
- Rebound from loss: The Senators had their winning streak snapped last time out. Can they rebound with a win or head into a tailspin?
- Daugavins returns: Kaspars Daugavins scored his first career goal against Toronto. After a game off due to some dental work, he will return. Is he slowing becoming a regular on the club?
- Top line quiet: After a hot start, Spezza and Michalek are pointless in the last two games. This hasn't been a problem, with the club still scoring three goals in each of those two games. If Spezza scores a goal tonight, it will be his 200th career goal.
- Annoying Habs fans: I find the Habs fans to be the most obnoxious and self-entitled hockey fans in the world. How annoying will they be tonight? I vote "very annoying".
Here are the 2011-2012 comparative statistics for the Senators and the Canadiens:
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