Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Montreal Canadiens (8-7-1, 17 points) and the Ottawa Senators (5-6-4, 14 points) hit the ice against each other for the first of five meetings this season live from the Canadian Tire Center in Ottawa. The game can be live streamed here. Montreal fans can hear all the bone-crunching action by turning their dials to TSN 690 while Ottawa fans can do the same on TSN Team 1200.
Montreal and Ottawa both enter play chasing the Tampa Bay Lightning for the division lead as they are in fourth place and fifth place respectfully, while Montreal is three points back and Ottawa is six points back. In the Eastern Conference, Montreal sits in sixth, while Ottawa is tenth.
P.K. Subban, who leads the Canadiens in points with 15 (three goals, 12 assists) and is the reigning Norris Trophy winner, was benched for the final four minutes in the team's 3-2 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues, but the reasons why were mum.
"I will not comment on the ice time of any player," coach Michel Therrien told reporters Wednesday, according to NHL.com.
Along with Subban, Tomas Plekanec (six goals, five assists, 11 points), Alex Galchenyuk (2-9-11) and Brendan Gallagher (7-3-10) have also helped lead the team. Montreal is riding a three-game losing streak and looks to snap it tonight.
Ottawa enters play having defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 on Tuesday.
"It was another good step for us,'' coach Paul MacLean said. ''I thought we played a real solid 60 minutes. There were some times when the opposition had some good play, but we handled the momentum swings better. Our penalty-killers were outstanding.''
Ottawa has been paced by Erik Karlsson, who scored two of the team's four goals Tuesday to bring his point streak to four games and has lit the lamp six times and added 11 assists for 17 points. The Senators have also been aided by Jason Spezza (8-8-16), Bobby Ryan (8-7-15) and Kyle Turris (2-13-15).
In between the pipes, the Senators are still without Craig Anderson, who is sidelined with a sore neck, so it looks as though Robin Lehner will man the crease. Lehner is 1-2-2 with a 2.38 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage. Carey Price has started 13 of Montreal's 16 games, and is 6-6-1 with a 2.16 GAA and a .933 save percentage.
Two Atlantic Division rivals square off when the Canadiens and Senators hit the ice at Canadian Tire Center tonight in Ottawa.
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