Game 40 Preview and Open Thread: Ottawa Senators vs Montreal Canadiens
Ridly Greig and some minor hockey players take on the Habs for the first time this season.
The Ottawa Senators avoided a scare on Tuesday, outplaying the Colorado Avalanche for 40 minutes before returning to form, allowing 4 goals in the third period to hold onto that 3rd overall pick. Is it too early to be thinking about draft lottery odds ?
Tonight is the first game of the year against the Montreal Canadiens, who have been steadily improving over the last few years, currently with a record of 19-18-7. It's annoying to see positive progress from every Canadian team except for ours, especially since most of Ottawa's core players are already in their prime.
The emergence of Ridly Greig is a bright spot but does very little to move the needle overall. In this 1-7-0 stretch, Greig has 2 goals, 4 assists, and a +5 rating. He can't do everything by himself.
Perhaps adding Jacob Bernard-Docker back into the lineup could help the Sens eke out the occasional victory. A surprising fact is that since the win against Detroit, JBD has played 18 consecutive games without posting a minus rating.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM EST, and the game is available on TSN2, TSN5, RDS, and TSN 1200.
Projected Lines:
Expected Sens lines for tonights game against montreal.
— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) January 18, 2024
Tkachuk-Greig-Giroux
Joseph-Stützle-Batherson
Kelly-Chartier-Tarasenko
Kubalik-Kastelic-MacEwen
Chabot-Chychrun
Sanderson-Zub
Brannstrom-JBD
Korpisalo
Sogaard
Stats:
| Game 40 | Senators | Canadiens | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Player | # | Player | # |
| Goals | Brady Tkachuk | 18 | Cole Caufield | 14 |
| Assists | Tim Stützle | 31 | Suzuki, Matheson | 25 |
| Points | Stützle, Giroux | 38 | Nick Suzuki | 37 |
| Shots | Brady Tkachuk | 173 | Cole Caufield | 159 |
| Time on Ice/GP | Thomas Chabot | 23:40 | Mike Matheson | 25:18 |
| Game 40 | Senators | Canadiens | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | # | Rank | # | Rank |
| Goals/GP | 3.33 | 9th | 2.70 | 28th |
| Goals Against/GP | 3.77 | 31st | 3.32 | 23rd |
| Shots/GP | 32.7 | 8th | 28.5 | 27th |
| Shots Against/GP | 31.3 | 22nd | 33.8 | 29th |
| Powerplay % | 16.6 | 24th | 18.9 | 19th |
| Penalty Kill % | 71.7 | 31st | 72.7 | 29th |
| Corsi % (5v5 SVA) | 49.20 | 21st | 47.79 | 24th |
| xGF % (5v5 SVA) | 46.71 | 24th | 45.65 | 28th |
