Game 9 preview: Senators @ Canadiens
It is Super Bowl Sunday, but first the Ottawa Senators will play in Montreal against the Canadiens.
Having beaten the Canadiens 5-1 earlier in the week, the Senators will be hoping for a repeat performance. However, the Canadiens are a different beast at home and with Carey Price in net. On the other hand, the Canadiens did play yesterday against the Sabres so Ottawa should be the more rested team. This is scheduled to be a 2:00 p.m. start but the Habs may or may not have a 45 minute ceremony honouring their 1837 championship team.
Paul MacLean spoke to the media yesterday and didn't expect there to be any changes. This means Craig Anderson will start, Mark Borowiecki will be a healthy scratch and Guillaume Latendresse is still out with the flu.
What will the lines be to start the game? I have no clue. Here's what my lines would be if I was the coach:
Michalek-Turris-Alfredsson
O'Brien-Zibanejad-Silfverberg
Greening-Regin-Condra
Daugavins-Smith-Neil
The defensive pairings are more predictable and they will probably be:
Methot-Karlsson
Gonchar-Wiercioch
Phillips-Benoit
Here are some talking points for today:
- Take advantage of the back-to-back: Montreal didn't have a very tough game against Buffalo, but they did play yesterday. Ottawa was the tired team against Carolina, but this time they will have the slight advantage. Carey Price will have played both games of the back-to-back.
- Defencemen usage: Erik Karlsson played over 29 minutes once again and even though he didn't have his greatest game, he was still on the ice for six Ottawa scoring chances and three Carolina chances. Even when he makes a mistake, he recovers before a scoring chance develops. However, is he going to be able to play at a high level with this much usage? Chris Phillips played less than 10 minutes on 5 on 5. Ottawa was mostly rolling with three defencemen on Friday.
- Need improved play from forwards: The top line had a lot of chances but aside from that, every other line struggled. It could be a long season if that continues to be the story, but hopefully that was just fatigue.
- Anderson's dominance: When will Anderson come back to earth? It really is incredible and I don't even know what to say.
- Habs fans: How obnoxious will the Habs fans be? And how quickly will they point out that the Senators are relevant if the Senators win again?
And here are the stats:
| NAME | GP | Corsi Rel QualOfComp | Corsi Relative | Off Zone Start % |
| Benoit | 6 | -1.366 | -5.6 | 56 |
| Borowiecki | 4 | -0.189 | 6.8 | 61.9 |
| Gonchar | 6 | 1.151 | -17.6 | 44.1 |
| Karlsson | 7 | 0.164 | 15.6 | 53.3 |
| Methot | 7 | 0.556 | 22.1 | 53.4 |
| Phillips | 7 | 0.736 | -25.2 | 50 |
| Wiercioch | 5 | -0.307 | -3.8 | 45.2 |
| NAME | Corsi Rel QoC | Corsi Relative | Off Zone Start % | Off Zone Finish % |
| Regin | -0.628 | 25.6 | 48.4 | 60 |
| Condra | -1.508 | 26.4 | 45.5 | 57.6 |
| O'Brien | -0.585 | 7.1 | 40.5 | 51.9 |
| Spezza | -0.402 | -2 | 64 | 46 |
| Daugavins | 1.529 | -9 | 70 | 50 |
| Neil | 0.265 | 3.5 | 43.1 | 52.2 |
| Silfverberg | -0.205 | 1.6 | 67.4 | 58.1 |
| Greening | 0.688 | -1.3 | 49.2 | 55.4 |
| Zibanejad | 0.403 | 10.3 | 53.3 | 60 |
| Michalek | -0.062 | -7.2 | 58.1 | 53.8 |
| Smith | -0.003 | -8.8 | 39.7 | 55.4 |
| Alfredsson | 1.522 | -4.8 | 50 | 55.2 |
| Latendresse | 1.691 | -14.2 | 55.6 | 58 |
| Turris | 1.267 | -16.1 | 51.6 | 56 |