Game 32 Preview and Open Thread: Ottawa Senators @ Montréal Canadiens
If there was ever a night to put the tank on hold...
After putting the boots to one of their Atlantic Division rivals on Monday night, the Ottawa Senators (13-17-1) will look to do it again tonight, when they take on the Montréal Canadiens (14-11-6) at the Bell Centre.
The Sens are coming off a 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins, while the Habs are in the second game of a back-to-back, winning 4-1 in Pittsburgh last night.
Anders Nilsson starts in goal tonight, and expect the rest of Ottawa’s line combos and pairings to look similar to Boston:
Namestnikov - Tierney - Duclair
Ennis - Anisimov - White Paul - L. Brown - Davidsson
Chabot - DeMelo
Borowiecki - Zaitsev
Hainsey - Goloubef
Nilsson (starter)
Hogberg
Game Notes:
- Logan Brown saw a decrease in his minutes once more, against Boston. He played 7:08mins in 12 shifts, as opposed to 10:13 in 18 against the Flyers. To me, this seems to be D.J. Smith taking issue with the young forward’s work ethic, as he was heard at practice prodding Brown to skate harder a few days ago. Regardless, I’m of the hope that Brown gets some more minutes, and uses them to prove that he wants to be here, and can make an impact.
- Anthony Duclair is white-hot right now. His recent display of offensive prowess has placed him second on the team in goals (15) and points (22), and the fact that he was able to keep finding ways to produce when moved away from Brady Tkachuk is very encouraging. Let’s see if The Duke can keep it up tonight.
- Thomas Chabot has quietly been one of Ottawa’s more consistent players this year, and he has seven points in his last 10 games. One has to think that his numbers would be higher if the Sens could finally get their powerplay going, but imagine what he’s going to be able to do when the team is a competitor and he has better players around him. We really have a special player here.
- This is the second meeting of the year between Ottawa and Montréal. The Sens currently lead the season series 1-0, thanks to Brady./
- Carey Price played last night in Pittsburgh, so expect rookie Cayden Primeau to get his second career start tonight./
As always, here are some stats. Courtesy of NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick.
Player Stats
| Ottawa | Senators | Montréal | Canadiens | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Player | # | Player | # |
| Goals | Jean-Gabriel Pageau | 16 | Brendan Gallagher | 14 |
| Assists | Thomas Chabot | 16 | Thomas Tatar, Phillip Danault | 17 |
| Points | Jean-Gabriel Pageau | 23 | Thomas Tatar | 27 |
| Shots | Brady Tkachuk | 114 | Brendan Gallagher | 119 |
| Time On Ice | Thomas Chabot | 25:06 | Jeff Petry | 22:36 |
Team Stats
| Ottawa | Senators | Montréal | Canadiens | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Rank | # | Rank | |
| Goals/GP | 2.71 | 21st | 3.19 | 11th |
| Goals against/GP | 3.10 | 20th | 3.29 | 28th |
| Shots/GP | 30.1 | 23rd | 34.9 | 1st |
| Shots against/GP | 32.2 | 22nd | 31.8 | 19th |
| Powerplay % | 9.3 | 31st | 20.0 | 13th |
| Penalty Kill % | 82.3 | 12th | 75.8 | 28th |
| Corsi % (5v5, Score and Venue Adjusted) | 48.23 | 23rd | 53.79 | 2nd |
| Fenwick % (5v5, SVA) | 49.35 | 19th | 53.39 | 4th |