Canadiens: Trouble Brewing?

Over the last couple of decades, an interesting rivalry has developed between the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens, these two teams do not like each other. The pre-season was par for the course really, the hit on Kirby Dach, the hit on Tim Stutzle, the stars dropping like flies and the final game in the pre-season featuring, well, not a lot of regulars set the table for tonight’s game.

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It’s now time to get down to business though, there are two points on the line and the teams should be trying to win the hockey game. In the last pre-season game Zack MacEwan dropped the gloves with Arber Xhekaj, and even though the Senators tough guy lost the bout, the case will hopefully be considered closed.

The Canadiens had a day off yesterday but held a morning skate this morning at the Bell Centre. Samuel Montembeault will be back in net for the game.

Related: Canadiens Home Opener: Mission Accomplie

In the last frame of the defeat in Boston, Martin St-Louis shuffled his lines a bit to spark some offense, reuniting Juraj Slafkovsky with Dach and Alex Newhook while Josh Anderson got himself a spot on the top line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. Some wondered if those new lines would stick, but morning skate told us it’s not happening.

Tonight’s tilt will be the first of four between the two sides in the season series. The Senators have a nine-win streak going against the Canadiens right now and they’ve won nine of the last 10 meetings. Montreal’s last win against Ottawa goes back to Match 19, 2022.

Brendan Gallagher has got a couple of goals so far this season, his next one will be 221st in his career moving him up to 21st position for most career-goal with the Canadiens tied with Guy Carbonneau. As for his first pass of the season, it will move him into 40th position for most career-assist with 209 tied with Jean-Guy Talbot. His next power play goal will be his 46th and tie him as 28th in team history with Mario Tremblay. He is however still 19 points away from Doug Harvey as the 30th best point producer with the Habs. Whichever way you look at it, Gallagher is slowly but surely making his way up the Canadiens’ history ladder.

Cole Caufield has got eight points in 10 games against the Senators while Brendan Gallagher is the most productive against them with 24 points in 44 games. Surprisingly, Arber Xhekaj has only got four penalty minutes in four games against the Sens, while David Savard has got 29 minutes in 28 games, but it’s Gallagher who takes the cake in that department too with 59 minutes in his 44 games.

Reporting from morning skate today, Sportsnet’s Eric Engels wrote that Alex Barre-Boulet would be making way for Heineman in the lineup resulting in some line changes. Christian Dvorak will be centering Heineman and Kapanen while Josh Anderson lands with Jake Evans and Gallagher. Funnily enough, this new line has collectively scored three of the Canadiens’ five goals this season. The top two lines revert to their original formation and the same goes for the defensive pairings.

In net, tonight’s starter Montembeault has never won against Ottawa. He’s got a 0-3-0 record with a 4.13 goals-against average and a .864 save percentage. Meanwhile Cayden Primeau is 2-1-1 against them with a 3.15 GAA and a .907 SP, but given the duos’ performances in their respective starts this year, those records based on a fairly small body of work will mean very little.

On the other side, keep an eye on Brady Tkachuk who has put up 26 points in 28 games and 45 penalty minutes. As for the Bell Centre crowd’s favorite, Tim Stutzle, he’s got 17 points in 19 games. In net, both Linus Ullmark and Anton Forsberg have got a winning record against the Habs. Ullmark is 3-1-0 and Forsberg is 6-0-0, the former has a 2.58 GAA and a .899 SP and the latter has a 2.82 GAA and a .921 SP. Coach Travis Green has yet to decide who will man the net tonight.

The game is scheduled for 7:00 PM ET and the Canadiens will be back in action on Monday night, hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins making it a fun long weekend of hockey in Montreal.

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