Game 7 Preview: Montreal Canadiens @ Ottawa Senators
The Pageau chants will have to hold off this time.
Following a long four-day break for the Ottawa Senators, they’re back in action tonight against the visiting Montreal Canadiens. Both teams have been off to surprisingly hot starts, with Ottawa and Montreal holding the Atlantic division’s 5th and 2nd spots respectively. Both teams finished in the bottom four last season, and are looking to redeem themselves with bounce back performances.
The Sens are currently riding a two-game win streak, while the Habs have won their last three. Game time is 7:00 p.m., and you can catch the broadcast on Sportsnet 360, CITY or TVA Sports.
Roster Notes
A bunch of key Sens are out with injuries, including notable Habs slayer Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Alex Formenton and Cody Ceci were both in a non-contact jerseys this morning, and are not expected to play. Max McCormick and Brady Tkachuk are also not ready to play, meaning the only non-injured player returning to the lineup will be Ryan Dzingel.
Christian Jaros and Nick Paul have both been called back up from Belleville, with Jaros playing and Paul sitting. Boucher will once again go with the 11-7 forward-defencemen setup. Craig Anderson gets the start, and will likely be battling Carey Price at the other end.
Here are the projected lines and pairings, which is just my guess based off of previous usage this season.
Paajarvi - Tierney - Pyatt
Dzingel - Duchene - Ryan
Carey - White
Chabot - DeMelo
Borowiecki - Wideman
Lajoie - Jaros
Harpur
Anderson (starter)
Condon
Game Notes
- A few sobering stats: Ottawa’s getting outshot by an average of twelve shots per game, and their 14.9% shooting percentage is 1.7 higher than the second highest team. As fun as this opening run is, I don’t see how this is sustainable.
- Guy Boucher put heavy emphasis on the team’s locker room chemistry in his pre-game availability, although I think it’s a secret that the correlation between being on a winning team and feeling good in the locker room is basically a straight line.
- The average age of Ottawa’s top five scorers is 22.2 years old. I haven’t checked the rest of the league, but I feel pretty confident saying that would be the youngest in the NHL.
- Dylan DeMelo and Thomas Chabot seem to have solidified themselves as Ottawa’s top pairing, and the results have been decent thus far. They’re the Sens’ only defence combo with over 50 minutes at 5v5 together, and their 51.92% Corsi percentage is great relative to the rest of the team.
- The Sens are going for three wins in a row. Their last time with such a streak came on March 16th, nineteen games ago. If Montreal wins, however, it’ll be their first time with a four game winning streak since December 2nd, 2017. /
Here are some stats from NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick.
Team Stats
| Category | Ottawa | Senators | Montreal | Canadiens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | Value | Rank | Value | Rank |
| Goals/GP | 4.00 | 3rd | 3.33 | 16th |
| Goals Against/GP | 3.67 | 25th | 2.50 | 8th |
| Shots/GP | 26.8 | 27th | 33.8 | 6th |
| Shots Against/GP | 38.3 | 31st | 26.3 | 4th |
| Powerplay % | 27.8 | 7th | 15.4 | 22nd |
| Penalty Kill % | 78.3 | 17th | 72.2 | 23rd |
| Corsi (5v5, Score & Venue Adjusted) | 42.74 | 29th | 54.89 | 6th |
| Fenwick (5v5, SVA) | 43.59 | 29th | 54.12 | 7th |
Player Stats
| Ottawa | Senators | New Jersey | Devils | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | Player | # | Player | # |
| Goals | Ryan Dzingel | 5 | Kyle Palmieri | 9 |
| Assists | Thomas Chabot | 14 | Taylor Hall | 12 |
| Points | Thomas Chabot | 17 | Kyle Palmieri | 15 |
| Shots | Lajoie, Maxime | 35 | Taylor Hall | 40 |
| TOI/GP | Thomas Chabot | 22:34 | Sami Vatanen | 23:06 |
Preview Charts
Game score is a stat created by Dom Luszczyszyn which measures impact in a game using typical box score stats. The game prediction model is also created by Dom.
