Game 75: Sens vs. Habs

THIRD PERIOD:

- Overall, game is still being donated by the Sens, but the bleeding was somewhat reduced in that second period. Still, SA CF at even strength just 32% over 40 minutes for the Habs.

- Injuries have no doubt affected the Sens blue line tonight, and at some point, they're going to need to pinch harder, which could spring a few more breaks for the Habs tonight. They've already enjoyed ones from acioretty, Byron and Gallagher, largely because the Sens defence hasn't been terribly aware (also, the Sens blue line doesn't have a lot of speed, except for Karlsson).

- 13 minutes left, fine shift by Galchenyuk generates nice momentum for the Habs. They need all they can get, given how the Sens have owned this period since the puck drop.

- Erik Karlsson embellishes a high stick, McCarron sent to the box for nothing. Them's the breaks.

- Habs PK has been a difference maker tonight - for the most part, they've contained the Sens big guns, leaving the Sens little option than point shots looking for rebounds, most of which have been cleared away from danger. 

- Artturi Lehkonen remeinds me of Gallagher, the effort and determination is very similar, and he brings playmaking and hockey smarts to the table as an added bonus. If he continues to evolve and improve, he'll be a very important part of the Habs top-6 future.

- Here's a gif that nicely illustrates my previous point:

This guy hockeys. pic.twitter.com/GVEstKrWLx

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) March 26, 2017

- Wind seems to have gone out of the Sens sails - with around 8 minutes left in the 3rd. Still 4 minutes left on the board, but this doesn't look like a team that feels like it's still got a shot at coming back. Could be a case of the "Carey Price effect". 

- 3 minutes left. Sens left with little choice but a full court press.

- Whimper of a finish for Ottawa, 3rd period was pretty even, which Sens couldn't afford. They needed to dominate the period, and it just wasn't there. Once again, the Habs control their own 1st place destiny, the schedule still favours them from here until the end of the schedule. 

SECOND PERIOD:

- Holy moly, we knew it wasn't good, but we had no idea it was quite this ugly. Habs SA CF at even strength that first period, 26%. Mitchell, King, Galchenyuk, Lehkonen and McCarron all at 0.0%. 

- Tom Pyatt had 3 high percentage scoring chances in that 1st period. He's a guy who's managed to free himself up.

- Hockey is strange, but letdowns are killers. Sense too loosey-goosey in their zone, allowing Markov to march in for a blast that Anderson can't pick up. Habs dominated tonight in every significant category except the one that matters most. 2-0 Canadiens.

- Beaulieu makes a very nice bodycheck on Wingles, and the 2 seconds later, boards him. A really foolish play by Beaulieu that gives Sens the window of opportunity they were hoping for.

- Bryon draws a holding penalty, because nobody can catch Paul Byron. Habs powerplay, which was pretty damn awful the past month, defiantly shifting philosophical approach, relying on shots from the line to generate offence.

- And just as we post that last comment, Markov scores to make it 3-0. Erik Karlsson, who's had a night to forget, with a perfect, and I'm assuming, unintentional feed to Andrei to set up the powerplay goal.

- Definite issues between Karlsson and Fredrik Claesson tonight - we pointed this out as possible issue in our pregame, but even still might have underestimated their frequent miscommunications. Keep in mind, Karlsson had Marc Methot as his defensive partner for most of this season until Methot's brutal injury Thursday night.

- Hoffman makes a nice little move at the line and then a perfect backhand slider right in Pageau's wheelhouse to get Ottawa on the board. 

- Is Artturi Lehkonen the Habs best passer? He's made some incredible plays tonight, including one just now to Beaulieu to spring him all alone on Anderson. 

- Habs late powerplay, will they keep feeding the point looking for more goals?

- Defiantly a better period for the Habs. Not as good as the Sens were in the first, but still good enough to pad their lead, leaning on a the man advantage and a superb performance by Andrei Markov. 

FIRST PERIOD:

- Martinsen out, King in. Lines are officially the same for the Habs tonight.

- Early indications the Habs want to play a more physical game, 4th line, the "big" line, getting an extra shift early.

- Julien make little line adjustments here, Lehkonen now with Shaw and Galchenyuk. 

- Shaw made a nice little pass to Galchenyuk to help the Habs scoring the opening game Thursday night. Since then, be dammed if I can see any good examples of why these two should be kept on the same line.

- Radulov looking much like his former Radulov self tonight. Driving the play, churning his legs, and vernally being a pest against opposing defensemen. Draws Karlsson into a holding penalty.

- Weber with a blast on the powerplay with a shot at 101.6 mph, that almost literally goes through Craig Anderson. Habs take a 1-0 lead.

Weber's 12th PP goal of the year gives the Habs a 1-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/AKk8mVHIHc

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) March 25, 2017

- Sens doing much better forechecking job, it's helped them tilt the ice discernibly towards the Habs end, the only saving grace has been the Canadiens' ability to block shots and tie up bodies with loose pucks around Price. Still, this has been an impressive effort so far by the Sens.

- If you're going to argue Steve Ott is a better option than Mike McCarron, I'm just going to walk away from your mouth.

- That was defiantly a Sens first period, sorry Habs fans. Occasional good shift by the Danault line, Plekanec line mostly devoted to shadowing the Turris line, with mixed results. No way the Habs can maintain this game flow if they hope to end the night with 2 points. 

GAME PREVIEW: MARK STONE IS BACK AND THE SENS MIGHT BE GOOD

What a difference a week makes. Just under 6 days ago, the Habs were basking in the wwaaass warmth of a weekend sweep of the Ottawa Senators, giving the Habs a nice little 1st place cushion in the Atlantic Division.

And then the Habs went and dropped two eggs (on home ice!) to the Detroit Red Wings and Carolina Hurricanes, two non-playoff teams. The Canadiens' offence, for lack of a better description, is back to its struggling, meandering ways again - the only difference this time is the Habs scoring is not being carried by Alex Galchenyuk, Alexander Radulov and Max Pacioretty (as it was most of the month of February), but everyone except Galchenyuk, Radulov and Pacioretty. Hockey is maddening sometimes.

Making life just a little more difficult this weekend for the Canadiens is the return of Mark Stone to the Sens lineup. Stone, who's be recovering from an lower body injury the past month, has been a key cog in the Senators' unexpected competition for top spot in their Division this season. Indeed, as Habs fans might have noticed last weekend, Ottawa wasn't much competition. Tonight, that's likely to not be the case.

With Stone playing, the Sens don't have to scratch any healthy bodies because winger Viktor Stalberg won't play tonight due to an UBI.  Ergo, Ottawa's lineup will likely be this tonight:

Smith/Turris/Ryan
Burrows/Brassard/Stone
Hoffman/Pageau/Pyatt
Dzingle/Kelly/Wingels

Claesson/Karlsson
Phaneuf/Ceci
Borowiecki/Wideman

Note the insertion of Fredrik Claesson next to Erik Karlsson. This is, of course, because of the gruesome injury sustained by Marc Methot, who had his (don't worry we're not linking it) finger unceremoniously chopped off by Sidney Crosby this week (no suspension, it's a hockey play!). Needless to say, Methot won't be playing hockey anytime in the near future.

Which is to say if there is a defined Ottawa weakness, it's that blue line. Claesson is an okay NHL defenseman, but it's highly questionable he's top pairing material.

Over on the Habs side, no significant changes to the lineup tonight, meaning Alex Galchenyuk will again play on 3rd line wing, while the Canadiens will hope to see something other than a dreadful performance by Phillip Danault and the rest of the Habs "number 1" line. This also means that Alexei Emelin will get another start, which means someone else more capable will be sitting out tonight.

It's Carey Price vs. Craig Anderson. Puck drops at 7:10, EST.

Game 72: Habs vs. Sens

FIRST PERIOD:

- Hey! We showed up! Suffice to say if the Habs put out the same effort tonight that they did on Wednesday against Buffalo, they're going to get destroyed.

- So it took having Barberio knocked out for the season in order to get Darren Dietz back into the lineup - instead of simply putting Dietz in at any point previously while sitting the very marginal Victor Bartley out. But that would be too obvious.

- Dietz gets all kinds of mixed up covering his zone during a Sens transition, Scrivens forced to make a pretty good save off Scott (yes, he's still playing) Gomez.

- While we've been hammering the Habs all season long for their lack of structure, the Sens sure don't look much better, if the first 5 minutes of the game is any indication. Really, really weak in the neutral zone, not exactly doing a stellar job retreating back to their zone. Methinks Ottawa is saddled with some of the same issues as Montreal - lots of good talent, except behind the bench.

- Actually, to extend that a bit further - the Sens share another similarity with the Habs. They're more or less a mess when Erik Karlsson isn't on the ice, just like the Habs are with P.K. Subban out of the lineup.

- Habs had the first 7 shot attempts in the game, Sens have narrowed the gap a little, but it's still a game mostly controlled by the Canadiens. Basically, Ottawa has virtually nothing going at either end of the rink when Karlsson is on the bench.

- Senators penalty kill is pretty awful. Just 75% success rate. And guess what? They score the first goal of the game shorthanded. Turnover at the blue line by Eller, Plekanec, Pacioretty and Galchenyuk dogging it back to cover, Pageau scores. Awful, awful hockey.

- By the way, Habs could really make themselves better by figuring out a way of getting Pageau, since Montreal is the ONLY TEAM HE SCORES AGAINST.

- Sens outhitting Habs by a 2-to-1 margin, which only means they're chasing the puck more. I'd say Ottawa is extremely fortunate to be ahead on the scoreboard, except that the Habs aren't much less of a dysfunctional offence either.

- Meh, Pageau scores, which he always does at least once every game against Montreal. So at least that's out of the way. Still think it remarkable how the Sens were outplayed in the period even though their roster far outflanks the Habs' right now. Canadiens looked the faster team certainly in that period, but failed to generate many good scoring chances. A lot of inexperience in Montreal's lineup failing to finish their plays. It's to be expected.


SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs and Sens after 20 minutes, Habs with a slight puck possession edge (5v5) CF of 51.9%.

- Habs zone entries have been far more dangerous in the period, Hammond making a couple of nice saves, one post hit. Again, Senators fortunate to still be holding a scoreboard lead.

- Coing out his zone, Andrighetto carrying the puck with his head down, and Phaneuf decides to hammer him. Down goes Andrighetto, Habs then get a nice 2-on-1 break. Classic dumb Phaneuf play.

- Sens had, I repeat, the 2nd worst penalty kill in the NHL entering tonight's game. Another turnover at the line, another break, another shorthanded goal. Just abysmal. 2-0 Ottawa.

- Passing in the Sens zone has been pretty awful tonight, especially around the blue line, where it's been a festival of giveaways. Already it's cost the Habs two goals, and generated more than a few odd man Ottawa rushes. Sure, you're going to have one of these egregious mistakes happen once or twice in a game - but numerous times? Inexcusably bad.

- Lousy period for the Habs, Sens with 22 shot attempts to the Habs merger 12. Sloppy powerplay leading to two Ottawa goals, listless offence. Canadiens going through the motions at this point, and it's really on demonstration tonight. Montreal lucked out with a victory in Buffalo, that's not going to happen again tonight.


THIRD PERIOD:

- After 2 periods, Habs CF drops from about 52, to 47% because of the 2nd period, in which they were mostly outplayed.

- Emelin with a dumb, dumb charge to start the period. Maybe the Habs can short the Sens right back? Naw.

- Scrivens fails to cover the post, Methot says "hey thanks I'm just going to bank this puck in", and it's 3-0. Ben Scrivens. What a pickup. Happy trails, Ben, when your NHL career ends this summer.

- Annddddddddd ... make it 3 shorthanded goals for the Sens. 4-0. What an embarrassment.

- Habs about as good (bad) as they were against Buffalo Wednesday night, only tonight, the puck luck has not been with them. Plus Ben Scrivens has been bad. Plus the powerplay has been even worse. It's been a horrorshow from top to bottom. Totally deflating and humiliating evening.

- It's official. The three shorthanded goals surrendered tonight? First time in the Habs 107 year history that's happened. WONDERFUL.

- Bowing out for the night. Another abysmal evening in the history of the Montreal Canadiens, which touched yet another embarrassing bottom tonight. Any person with half active cognitive activity would see this team for what it's worth - horribly prepared, horribly managed, horribly dysfunctional from just about every possible angle. It's difficult to watch these games because they're so predictably awful. Easily the worst playing Montreal Canadiens team I've seen in my lifetime, the same team that easily had one of the most talented rosters the organization has seen in 27 years. 

Game 31: Sens vs. Habs

THIRD PERIOD:

- Here's the rundown for Habs and Sens through 40 minutes:

- Sens buzzing to start the 3rd, the Habs, again, playing much to cautiously, letting Ottawa bring the attack to them. Canadiens' defence far less engaged as the game has progressed.

- Emelin lays into Karlsson, which looks great, and gets the Sens all mad, but bodies were hit while the Sens were carrying the puck into the Habs zone, which means Emelin's check left the Canadiens with just one defenseman back. What I'm saying is, it was a dumb play.

- Sens getting nasty right now, slashes, trips and knee checks. The officials are refusing to call anything, so as long as their whistles stay silent, Ottawa will continue to hack away.

- Habs are going to need one more, just to make this game comfortable. Right now, it's not. It's very, very not.

- 10 minutes left. We're approaching the stage in the game that's been Montreal's undoing the past 10 days. Will history repeat itself?

- Pacioretty easily Habs best forward tonight - while Lars Eller has been largely invisible for most of the game.

- Habs on their heels, right at the 12 minute mark. Just like Boston and Detroit. And now having to kill of a penalty. Here we go again?

- Ryan goes down rather suspiciously with Pacioretty's stick just brushing him, but whatever, the officials call a penalty, and now Ottawa has a 2 man advantage. Get ready to hold on to something.

- Habs survive, but only just. Plekanec breaks his stick after the 1st penalty expires, essentially putting the Habs right back at 2 men short. I've never understood the "strategy" of keeping players out there, sans a stick, instead of having them dash a mere 30 feet to the bench to either change or be handed a stick.

- Habs powerplay again comes up zeros, but with plenty of puck passing and shot attempts. Still not seeing nearly enough aggressive traffic in and around the opposing crease during these things. Habs need a dirty powerplay goal, with the unit now sinking fast, 0 for the last 16.

- Well, it wasn't exactly pretty, given how good they looked in the first period, but the Habs win. As noted in our game preview, Habs may not have received any actual goal support from their powerplay, but the did get a key "big" save early from Toakarski on Hoffman, which would have made the game 1-0 Ottawa, and might have send everything in a totally different direction. In any case, a strong outing for him - you'd have to figure that he'll get the next start, and will continue to be the defacto number one as long as he continues to play well.



SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs and Sens through 20 minutes. Incredibly one-sided, 5v5 CF Habs 71.1%, Sens 28.9

- It will be fascinating to see how the Sens respond in this period. I'm pretty sure they were read the riot act during the intermission, with Erik Karlsson playing a period so terrible, he might lose Norris trophy consideration (okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but he did struggle mightily).

- Oh yeah - Pageau took a stupid roughing penalty to end the 1st period, so the Habs will start with the man advantage on a clean, fast sheet of ice.

- Not much on that man advantage. Habs are now 1 for their last 18, 0 for their last 14.

- Not a night to remember for Karlsson, as he again gets caught up ice, the resulting rush for the Habs, Petry with a wrister that beats Anderson blocker side, and it's 3-0. At this point, Ottawa might as well through all caution to the wind.

- 4-0 ... almost. Max Pacioretty knocks the puck into the net with his glove, as the Sens totally collapse in their zone, utter chaos around Anderson. Regardless, Anderson is removed from the game - I think he's had enough of the nonsense of his team's performance, and it's hard to blame him.

- Pageau, of course Pageau, puts the Sens on the board, with Gilbert making a perplexing pinch deep into the Sens zone, with his team up 3-0.  Ottawa has life.

- Well, that Pageau goal has certainly had its effect. It's given Ottawa some reason to believe, and it's made the shell-shocked Habs, because of their recent slide, very wary - far too wary, in their zone. Habs playing far too conservatively trying to protect a 2 goal lead before we've even reached the 3rd period.

- Habs nearly surrender another goal as the period comes to a close - they looked great to start the 2nd, but a silly play by Gilbert to free up an odd-man rush for the Sens leading to a goal for Pageau has put a different complexity on this game. Sure, the Habs remain overwhelming favourites to go on to victory, but the mental awareness of his this team has found ways of losing the past 10 days surely will have an impact in the 3rd. It is essential that the Canadiens remount an aggressive approach that made them so successful in the 1st. I'm not advocating dumb plays like Gilbert made, but controlling centre ice and maintaining a strong forecheck should give Montreal all they need to finally seal a victory.


FIRST PERIOD:

- So, Andrighetto gets bumped down to the 4th line, Byron in his spot on the first line next to Plekanec, Carr bumped up to the 3rd line next to Desharnais. Make whatever of that like as you will, but whether these jumbled lines will produce actual goals for the offence-starved Habs, we'll have to see.

- Byron with a speedy first shift, Therrien seemingly hoping both his and Pacioretty's tremendous speed will be too much for Karlsson and the Sens to handle.

- Tokarski just robbed Hoffman, with a great move left to right to rob him with the pad. That's the kind of save that's been missing from Condon's game for a solid month.

- Nathan Beaulieu returns, and immediately has a big impact, carrying the puck in from the line around behind the Sens net, and feeds a wide open Flynn for a slam dunk goal. Beautiful play by Beaulieu, great work by Hudon to help set up the goal. 1-0.

- Still hard to believe Therrien had the audacity to scratch Beaulieu Thursday night. The kid makes a nice in-your-face statement by setting up that goal.

- Pretty hard not to like how this period has gone for the Habs - outshooting Ottawa 14-4 halfway through, Karlssoon gets called for a hold, basically because Montreal is vastly out skating and outworking the Sens.

- Habs first powerplay dangerous, good puck movement, but lots of shot attempts blocked, and no real presence close to Anderson, save Desharnais who  was top of the crease with 6 feet of open net, and managed to whiff on a sure-fire goal.

- Habs dominance of centre ice this period has been nothing short of astounding.

- Ahh, Mad Max finally strikes. Was beginning to worry this dominate period go for naught, but Pacioretty left all alone on the week, and beauty pass by Plekanc. Habs lead 2-0.

- That was about as one-sided a period as you'll see played, anywhere. Habs totally and utterly dominated Ottawa both ends of the ice, and everything else in-between. Craig Anderson immediately skated off the ice at the buzzer in disgust. He's right. It was a pretty disgusting period of hockey by the Senators. Crazy possession stats in favour of the Habs, as we shall see.




 
I'M SORRY BUT I CAN WILL NEVER GET ENOUGH OF THIS VIDEO: HABS AND SENS GAMEDAY GAME PREVIEW

Hey, it's another showdown between the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators, or as Sens fans like to call it "our Stanley Cup". That's because beating the Habs is pretty much the only big achievement in the cards for the Sens and their poor fans. WE BEAT THE HABS!!!! ... yeah okay Bucky, congrats ... enjoy your parade.

I'm sorry to say all is not well in Sensland. Ottawa is on a small slump (something Habs fans can relate to), largely because Ottawa is receiving contributions from pretty much two lines, and only two lines. Ottawa coach Dave Cameron has been riding the Sens two top lines of Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris, Bobby Ryan, Zack Smith, Mika Zibanejad, and the aforepictured, Mark Stone.

A big controversy in Ottawa right now is the way Cameron has been handling Hoffman, who was royally benched on Tuesday night, even though he's had an excellent season so far, scoring 15 goals for 27 points. It's highly unusual for any NHL coach to bench a player who's currently in the League's top 20 in scoring, but that's exactly what Cameron did. To make matters worse, Cameron took Hoffman off the Sens top line, the conspiracy theorist in me thinks the Sens are attempting to slow Hoffman's scoring pace down a gear, since he'll be a free agent come next summer. Stranger things have happened.

Of course, much of this is being offset by the great play of Erik Karlsson, already the runaway favorite for the Norris trophy, and might actually be a Hart trophy candidate. Karlsson and Marc Methot have done a fine job commanding the Sens transition game, which has bolster point totals for guys like Ryan, Stone, and Hoffman.

This all means the Habs, whose defence hasn't been playing particularly well the past couple of weeks, which has had a direct effect on creating an anemic offence, will see the return of Nathan Beaulieu, who was inexplicably scratched on Thursday night, because Michel Therrin doesn't seem to have a firm grasp on who's been making actual, positive contributions. While it's great news that Beaulieu is returning, unfortunately it comes at the expense of Greg Pateryn, who will sit tonight. Alexei Emelin will play.

Keys for the Habs tonight are pretty much threefold. 1) the defence needs to be more engaged and disciplined, 2) Habs powerplay has to be productive again, 3) Montreal is going to need some timely goaltending. Dustin Tokarski, who had a pretty good start against the Wings, will get another chance to prove that may he deserves the Habs backup job again.

Puck drops at 7:10 EST.


GAMEDAY NEWS 'N' NOTES

Stuff around the League today, mainly Habs-related.

- Dustin Tokarski, who had a strong outing Thursday night, has earned his second straight start, as Michel Therrien this morning announced that he'll play tonight against the Sens.

- Speaking of Therrien, the Pens fired their head coach Mike Johnston this morning. Mike Sullivan will take over duties. The last head coach the Pens fired mid season was - you guessed it - Michel Therrien. After dumping Therrien, the Pens then proceeded to win the Stanley Cup.

- Hey ho, Nathan Beaulieu is good to go. Therrien will insert him back into the lineup tonight, and to make room, the coach announced that Alexei Emelin will be a healthy scratch. HA HA HA .. just kiddin'. Did you think Therrien would actually do the right thing? Greg Pateryn will be the guy sitting in the press box.

- Were you thinking what I was thinking when you read that above paragraph about what the Pens did today? I know you were.


GAMEDAY LAFF OF THE DAY


Honestly, sometimes this stuff writes itself. This actual article with its actual swear-to-god headline appeared on the Globe and Mail late Friday night. I smirked. I'm sure you will, too.


Mr. Klinkenberg, in case you were wondering, is an Edmonton-based correspondant for the Globe. Thanks for that Marty. As always, we enjoy your continuing coverage of all things sporting from Alberta's capital, better known as the City of First Round Draft Picks.


HAPPY FRIDAY!

Are you still bummed out about last night? Remember, today it's Friday! Also, this is kind of nice, as a pick me up:

Dreams come true,you have to keep believing and keep working hard. Thanks everyone who believed in me #habs #DreamsComeTrue #keepworking

— Charles Hudon (@KidHud_10) December 11, 2015

Kid, you played well your first time out. Welcome to the NHL!

Game Fourteen: Sens vs. Habs

OVERTIME:

- So how will Therrien approach this? Two forwards, I'm guessing, with Subban/Markov and maybe Petry trading up on the back end.

- Well, that didn't take long. Pacioretty with a terrible pass from behind the Sens net, far too weak and slow, easily intercepted and it generates a game winning 3-on-1 break for Ottawa. Seems like the Habs haven't figured out this OT stuff, given how terrible they were at it pre-season.

- Raw numbers will say the Habs were the better team - they were, but there were far too many scoring opportunities not finished, and Anderson was excellent. What can ya do? 

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs and Sens through 40 minutes. 2nd period much more even than the first period:

- Weise with delay of game penalty blindly flipping puck up the boards, as per a book from the page of Therrien. Here's hoping this doesn't burn the Habs on the scoreboard.

- Condon with first big mistake of the night, muffing up a point shot, but not properly covering the puck, which is tipped into the net, but not before the back referee blows the whistle too soon.

- Am I the only one who thinks Erik Karlsson isn't 100%? He's a pretty dominative player, but tonight, he's been quite and fairly immobile. 

- Sens have had more puck possession this period, but the Habs have had more good scoring chances - Craig Anderson with a couple of nifty pad saves this period to keep his team in the game.

- Just perplexed by allocations tonight - Galchenyuk line has easily been the Habs most consistent of the night, but has the least number of shifts among all lines. Just can't understand this.

- Chaisson has been maximum pest tonight. Driving Habs defenders crazy. If anyone is going to score the winner for Ottawa, it's him.

- Methot with a bad high sticking penalty late in the 3rd, big opportunity here for the Habs.

- About six or seven high grade scoring chances, Anderson somehow kept the puck out, skill and a luck. Feels like one of those games where that winner just won't go in.

- Welp, a little history tonight, I guess. First 3-on-3 overtime Habs have been involved with (in a game that counts).

SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs and Sens through 20 minutes, very good period for the Habs, highlighted by excellent possession numbers by the Galchenyuk line:

- Subban hurt. Seems to be favouring his jaw. Was hit by a high stick in the face by Chiasson, who should have been called. Chris Lee one of the officials tonight. Just saying'. 

- Subban with a total wiff off a setup pass to the line on the Habs powerplay, and Habs killer Pageau beats Condon cleanly off the break. Condon was standing still for some reason, making it easy for Pageau to put his team up 1-0.

- Dale Weise just keeps on scoring, this time off the powerplay, with Desharnais doing some very good work keeping the puck alive in the Ottawa zone. Weise and Desharnais have got some kind of zen thing working this season. Both have made up a good portion of the Canadiens' point production.

- Bad play by Eller who makes a poor pinch, generating a clear cut 2-on-1 for the Sens, Chaisson setting Michalek up perfectly, but his shot hits the post. Habs get away with one.

- Habs have dominated zone play, but have made a few clunky plays born from poor decisions resulting in more than a couple odd man breaks for Ottawa. So far the Habs have come away unscathed, but you still hate to see a team commit all these preventable errors.

- 11 minutes into the 2nd, Sens with first sustained pressure of the night. Momentum tide appears to be shifting Ottawa's way.

- Definite weak spot for the Sens tonight, protecting low slot. Lots of Habs forwards are going there unmolested. Given enough passing attempts, somebody is going to get one past Anderson if Ottawa doesn't do a better job there.

- Much more evenly played 2nd period, Habs seemed to relent on their forecheck, and gave up most of the command they enjoyed in the neutral zone during the first period. Clearly not having Stone in the lineup is hurting the Sens' ability to generate sustained offensive momentum, so it looks like this game will eventually be decided by attrition. 

FIRST PERIOD:

- Good fast pace to start the game, unfortunately, it's mostly Ottawa. 

- Excellent first shift for the Galchenyuk line, really cycling the puck well in the Ottawa zone, keeping the Sens pinned for most of their one minute shift.

- Sens doing a good job getting bodies in front of Habs shots this period, Habs for the most part have progressively taken over puck possession.

- Brendan Gallagher has got to learn there's a difference between going hard to the net, and goaltender interference. Costs the Habs the first goal.

- Stupid decision by Therrien to burn his challenge on what was a pretty clear-cut bump by Gallagher into Anderson. More bad Habs coaching.

- Habs have been really effective with the forecheck, helping them to maintain firm control of the neutral zone. Also has helped them to generate some pretty clean zone entries. Still working on producing high percentage scoring chances.

- Habs double, triple, quadrupled blessed to have Mike Condon as their backup. Just when you think he's riding some kind of freaky performance wave that's bound to end, he keeps making some sparkling saves. 

- Very good period for the Habs, dumb challenge aside. Habs with strong check and speed gave them a distinct edge in the period, including strong puck possession. So far, so good.

PREGAME GAME PREVIEW:

So, it's on to round two against the team which is now arguably the Habs biggest rival, the Ottawa Senators. Yeah, we hate the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs, but getting the hate on against those two teams is hard when they're both terrible.

The Sens are not terrible! They're ... mediocre? Yeah. I think that's a good word to desribe them. Not awful, but not very good either. If you ask me, 12 points in 11 games would pretty much be the clinical definition of average. An 8th ranked offence (not bad) and a 25th ranked defence (yikes), a 23rd ranked powerplay, a 25th ranked penalty kill (specialty teams, not good), 5v5 Corsi rating of 48.9%. Yeah. The case is pretty solid.

It isn't going to help the Sens cause much tonight with Mark Stone, he of the famous "broken" wrist, out of the lineup due to a two game suspension. The one thing Ottawa seemed to have as a viable strength is its offence. Without Stone, they a far less dangerous team.

Bottom line - there's no *good* reason for the Sens to beat Habs tonight on Bell Centre ice. Even without Carey Price in net.

Puck drops at 7:40 EST.


GAMEDAY GOO:

Not a whole lot Habs-related. It's been a quiet 48 hours. Anyway ...

- Dustin Byfuglien is awaiting his punishment for the high hit on Brendan Gallagher (see below). We figure, given Byfuglien's past history, he'll get two games.

- Speaking of two game suspensions, Mark Stone of the Senators was handed one for a check to the head of the Wings' Landon Ferraro on Saturday. Which means he won't be playing tonight. Bonus!

- That's all we got. Lineups in a bit. Maybe Alex Semin will be in it?

- LINEUP UPDATE: Nope, Semin ain't gonna be there. Le sigh. Practice lines today:

1: Pacioretty/Plecks/Gallagher
2: Eller/Galchenyuk/Smith-Pelly
3. Fleischmann/Desharnais/Weise
4. Byron/Mitchell/Flynn

Sooooo, same as Jets game.

Over on the Senators' side of the ice, here is their lineup for tonight:

1. Hoffman/Turris/Lazar
2. Prince/Zibanejad/Ryan
3. Michalek/Pageau/Chaisson
4. Puempel/Smith/Neil

Methat/Karlsson
Wiercioch/Ceci
Cowen/Borowiecki

Anderson.

Still awaiting Byfuglien's sentancing. More later today.

UPDATE: Nada for Byfuglien. NOTHING. Meh. The NHL.




HAPPY MONDAY! SOMEBODY'S IN TROUBLE!

News and notes, adding as we receive 'em:

- Dustin Byfuglien will face an NHL disciplinary hearing tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 9 a.m. sharp, for delivering Habs Brendan Gallagher at high hit to the head with his elbow. Byfuglien is pretty much well established scum - just go to YouTube and search for "Byfuglien hit". Most of the stuff you'll get back are an assortment of questionable and outright illegal hits.

Game Three: Habs vs. Sens

THIRD PERIOD:

- Habs expanding possession advantage through 40 minutes, but as I mentioned previously, it's misleading considering how much (futile) powerplay time Montreal enjoyed in the 2nd.

- Tim Peel is awful. That is all.

- Subban does some marvellous work dancing and spinning around in the Sens zone, offloading a shot that Mitchell redeflects past O'Conner. Habs have an insurance lead. That goal - all P.K.

- Not sure if it's happening, but it sure feels like Habs are taking control of this game - Sens are pinching hard at centre, and it's creating a bushelful of 2-on-1 breaks for Montreal.

- Habs have had the great fortune of playing two very undisciplined teams in the span of 24 hours.

- Montreal's powerplay is just trying too hard, looking for some kind of perfection. Setups are far too complex, and low percentage. 95 times out of 100, you're not going to thread through two  long passes through the lanes without somebody from the opposition getting in the way. Whomever is drawing this system up has no idea what they're doing.

- I've lost count. I think Habs man advantage is oh-for-seventy-kajllion tonight. But I might be lowballing that number.

- Three minutes left, Habs firmly in "sit on it" mode. Hope this doesn't burn them.

- Officiating, while widely in favour of Montreal as far as powerplay time tonight, has not been very consistent. Lots of calls missed, especially slashes, and calls made on plays that really weren't penalties. Mitchell just called for interference for checking on opponent who had the puck.

- Condon goes post to post robbing the Sens of a powerplay goal, while simultaneously taking a stick from Subban's hands as he moved across. Remarkable.

- That was Condon's game. Great start, it's little wonder how he won a job with the big team this fall. Habs played a better game tonight than they did against the Bruins last night, but still their powerplay is a complete mess. Once and for all, somebody needs to take control of that unit and set it on a proper path.



SECOND PERIOD:

- Habs with clear possession advantage in the first period, Ottawa's offence simply doesn't quite have the horses to match Montreal's three line attack.

- This Condon guy is lookin' pretty sharp. Looks like he's been taking some Carey Price lessons.

- O'Conner seems to be settling down a bit. Maybe the jitters were confined to the first period. So far rebound control has been pretty solid in this period.

- Habs man advantage off the Stone crosscheck comes up empty, but had a semblance of competence. Relatively decent puck control in the opposition zone, which is kind of a change.

- Habs powerplay back to the disaster zone, Pageau with a short handed goal.

- And then the Habs can't cash in on 90 second two man advantage. Leaves one speechless.

- I can't understand how this organization could be so bad, for so long, over something so relatively basic as conducting a powerplay. The two man advantage was beyond abysmal. Passing around and around and around only to set up fruitless long range point shots. How long can this go on?

- Not surprisingly, the Sens have a huge boost in momentum from killing (and scoring off) the Habs man advantages. Now Montreal must hold on for dear life.

- Yet another powerplay, and .. well .. you know the rest of the story. It's a running joke now. That's all it deserves to be.

- Habs are going to have a significant edge in 2nd period possession, but it'll be a total facade. Bottom line, the Sens have been the better team this period, the Habs by far the more incompetent team.

- One of the more frustrating period of Habs hockey that I've seen in a long time.


FIRST PERIOD:

- Nobody seems to care much about this game, as most eyes, especially in Ontario, are on the Blue Jays. Honestly, isn't Toronto tired of cheering on choke?

- Rich multi multi-millionaire gets liver transplant. If only hundreds of thousands were half as fortunate.

- Excellent first shift by the Plekanec lines, cycling the puck well in the Ottawa zone, hemming the Sens in for nearly a minute.

- Beware Hoffman and Stone. Therrien would be wise to do line matching whenever possible to contain those two.

- Excellent transition through the neutral zone by the Habs best line so far this year, the Galchenyuk line. Continued clean, accurate passing will generate plenty of scoring chances tonight.

- Matt O'Conner, who as we mentioned in our preview, is playing is first ever NHL start, and is looking more than a little nervous so far. Couple of long range shots have handcuffed him.

- Beaulieu continues to do a fine job covering the slot, his position in anticipation of the play is rock solid. His partner, Gilbert, has really lost a step this summer - his defence is far more reactionary.

- There's the rookie play - O'Conner doesn't cover his post properly, and Plekanec smartly banks the puck off his skate into the back of the net. 1-0.

- Gilbert, who we mentioned is uber-slow, holds Chaisson who easily skates past him on the wing. Can't see how either Tinordi or Pateryn could be any worse, at a fraction of the payroll price.

- Subban is high sticked by Turris right in front of the official ... and I mean RIGHT DIRECTLY IN FRONT. Tim Peel, in his usual daze, fails to make the obvious call.

- Habs defence again making poor long-bomb passes from their own zone, even with plenty of open ice in from of them. That drives me crazy.

- Plecks again. He's having quite the period. Blocks a Karlsson shot, outskates him down the ice, and slips the puck through O'Conner, who again, probably shouldn't have let that past. 2-0 Habs.

- O'Conner surrenders two nervous goal, while Condon looked cool as a cucumber. Habs had good possession, and sans some silly long passes by the defence, worked the puck nicely through centre ice. That might have been the Habs most complete period played this season.


F

WE DON'T HATE THE LEAFS OR BRUINS ANYMORE. HELLO, OTTAWA!!

The Eastern Conference is a funny thing this season. It's mainly comprised of six teams, Washington, Tampa Bay, Montreal, Pittsburgh, and New York (Rangers and Islanders). Each, on its own merits, could be argued to be the best club in the Conference. Aside from those six, the East hasn't got much. It's got dreadful teams (Toronto, Boston, Philly to name a few), and a couple of middling teams that barely qualify as mediocre. What I'm saying here is the east is very top heavy this season. Which means that a couple of not-very-good hockey teams are going to win wildcard spots.

The Senators might be one of those not-very-good hockey teams that sneak into the post season. Ottawa, as you might recall, made a ridiculous run from oblivion last winter, coming from down 740 points in the standings to sneak their way into the post-season (at the expense of the Bruins), only to be ousted in the first round with relatively little ease by the Habs, which ain't saying much.

Point is, the Sens are not a team that can realistically win 22 out of 30 games, which is how they finished 2014-15. They are a team saddled with cap issues, with far too much money tied up in marginal veterans like Chris Neil and Chris Phillips. Having too much cap tied down in the wrong places severly hampered the Sens in their ability to make improvements during the off season. So now Ottawa is now tasked with putting together a decent season with significant question marks surrounding their offense (in particular at wing), and goaltending (in particular Craig Anderson).

But the Sens, at the very least, aren't Toronto-terrible. They've got Mark Stone, who's been a Habs killer, and there's Mike Hoffman, who's been off to a good start in the young season, and of course, there's Erik Karlsson.

In fact, the Sens are just good enough to have made themselves, arguably, the Habs biggest rival at the present. Yes, the anger will always exist between the Canadiens and the Leafs and the Bruins, but it's hard to get the hate on against teams that you know are destined for somewhere near the bottom of the standings. While the Sens didn't have a great off season, it's pretty safe to say they won't be anywhere near the bottom this year - and should be a pretty good bet to earn at least a wild card berth.

Meanwhile in Habsland, it's full steam ahead - the Candiens coming off a (more or less) easy win last night in Boston, and with games coming back-to-back, Mike Condon will earn his very first start against Matt O'Connor, who is also starting his first game for Ottawa. Groovy!!!

Puck drops at 7:10 EST. We're live streaming the game for you to watch while your big screen is playing the Blue Jays game.

Game Sixty-Eight: Sens vs. Habs

THIRD PERIOD:

- Pageau now draws a penalty. This guy, already.

- Sens convert. Soft defensive crease coverage allows Stone to easily redeflect an otherwise harmless shot past Price. The Habs go from well on the road to victory to losing the game in the span of one period.

- Puempel with an idiotic crosscheck to Parenteau's face. He's very lucky he only got 4 minutes. Fully deserved 5 and a game.

- Habs totally fumbling this huge powerplay away.

- Legs aren't there, and neither is any semblance of intensity. Habs blow the man advantage.

- Penalty over, Habs in sleepwalk line change mode, Karlsson completely unmarked comes rolling in on the right wing and beats Price off a simple pass. Price surrenders four goals for the first time in many weeks. Awful awful display of hockey by the Canadiens. Shameful, really.

- Methot now. Everything the Sens are touching right now turns to goals. 

- Doom has arrived in Montreal. Gravity has finally arrived, and everything has crashed back to earth. Habs terrible system has finally collapsed and dues are now being paid. Have I used enough metaphors yet? This team is in trouble. Big trouble.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Clunky giveaway at Sens blue line, De la Rose makes a rookie error by not tracking his check, which was Karlsson. That's usually not going to end well, and his blast, possibly tipped by a scrambling De la Rose, beats Price high. 2-1.

- Patches now being given credit for first goal, now has 33 on the year. 40 totally within his grasp.

- He still might not being impacting the scoresheet, but Eller is having another strong game. Effort is strong, he's doing a fine job checking. Once the snakebite wears off, surely points will follow.

- Petry does such a nice job feeding, instead of dumping the puck forward. Therrien will soon start disliking him for that.

- Zone entires for the Habs have been pretty easy, as long as Karlsson isn't on the ice.

- Goodbye lead. Poor zone retreat by Habs forwards, Pageau skates around Price who overchases the play, and banks the puck off a scrambling Plekanec and into the net. Habs completely undone by speed there. Irony, given that ought be their chief offensive weapon. Tie game.

- Mystifying. Habs had the Sens totally on the ropes, only needed one more punch, and then find a way of allowing two sleepy goals. This team looked like a world beater first period, and total chumps in the second. All the momentum is surely with the desperate Ottawa club. Habs are just indifferent. 

FIRST PERIOD:

- So will we see the dirty Sens tonight or the scummy Sens tonight? 

- Well, so far, although it's very early, Habs have dished out more hits. Attaboys.

- Four minute powerplay. Let's see what Parenteau can muster up. Maybe a little DSP?

-Desharnais cut by that high stick, Plekanec not on the bench. Ut-oh.

- Subban with a blast that Hammond can't pick up. 1-0. Good, fast, aggressive start for the Habs - miles better than two nights ago.

- Goodness me, short handed production. Pacioretty turns Hammond inside out on a break. 2-0. Before the game Darren Dreger put forth the notion that Hammond was better than Price. How's that working out?

- Gilbert called for high stick on Ryan, who fell to the ice as shot. Stick didn't come anywhere near Ryan. Chris Lee makes the call. Yup.

- Good first period for the Habs, one of their better for awhile. Powerplay looked good and produced, forecheck was pleasantly effective, Price looked solid as usual. So far, so good.

GAMEDAY GAME PREVIEW:

Oh, Sens fans. We'd find you so adorable if so many of you weren't appalling human beings. Let's just use this as one of many examples. Okay, this (totally appalling) example too. Anyway, you get the point. Sens fans, including the people they employ, live in a land of delusions, where no matter how many losses are suffered, no matter how thin or terrible their lineup may be, the promised land is always just around the corner.

So Ottawa, go ahead with your little "RED SCARF UNION", whatever that was about, and celebrate your lofty visions of finishing somewhere around 10th place in the Eastern Conference. We Habs fans have better things to do. Such as, wringing our hands over the total lack of offense, the ridiculous, NAY, heroin-like addiction it's acquired relaying on its goaltender to single-handedly win every single game, and its maddening coach, who scratches actually productive forwards, plays productive centers on the wing, puts scoring wingers at center, and pushes 4th line guys to the first line.

But wait. What is that I see?? Is ... that ... a glimmer a light? A ray of hope??

It cannot be. Has common sense finally arrived in Habsland?

Here are the lines tonight:

Line 1: Pacioretty/Desharnais/Gallagher
Line 2: Galchenyuk/Plekanec/Parenteau*
Line 3: Eller/De la Rose/DSP
Line 4: Prust/Mitchell/Weise**

* Yay!
** OMG FINALLY

Indeed, P.A. Parenteau returns from oblivion tonight, slotting in the 2nd line (thankfully not the 4th, like the last start). Meanwhile, FINALLY Dale Weise is playing down in the 4th line, which unlike the last 10 days of Flynn/Mitchell futility, actually looks half-decent. Progress!!!

The Sens, bless their hearts, had actual aspirations of making the playoffs after they went on a big winning run in February (combined with a big losing run by the Boston Bruins). Well, those aspirations took a cliff dive two nights ago as Ottawa basically drowned their hopes after losing to the Bruins, putting the Sens 7 points back of 8th place, instead of a possible 3.

That's okay, Ottawa fans. There's always next year, amiright?

In any case, the offensively starved Habs have got to start getting their act in gear as we near the start of the playoffs. The scoring drought has become downright nasty. Witness:

- Alex Galchenyuk: 4 points past 12 games.
- David Desharnais: 2 goals past 14 games.
- Devante Smith-Pelly: 1 measly point since being acquired.
- Lars Eller: 4 points (hoo boy - this is not a typo) past 30 games.

Beyond those players, most of the rest have put up some pretty mediocre numbers. I don't like stating the obvious, but if this team doesn't start to put more pucks on the net, not only will the remainder of the regular season schedule be a painful process, but the post-season will almost be poor, nasty, brutish and short.

Tonight, it's Carey Price against the February pheonom, Andrew Hammond.

Puck drops at 7:40 EST.

Game Fifty-Seven: Habs vs. Sens

THIRD PERIOD:

- Subban, or not to Subban. The anticipation is the worst. 

- Subban starts the period. We breath. For now. Let's see how much he plays before we can collectively breath normally again.

- Subban really struggling out there. I fear they may shut him down for the night.

- No way Habs can run with four D the rest of the night, can they?

- Subban looks terrible. They have to take him out. This cannot continue.

- Sens powerplay goal. Tokarski with more rebound control issues. Been plaguing him his last few starts. 3-1.

- Well, well, well, Nathan Beaulieu gets his first NHL goal, a total fluke bounce in off a half dump, half chip towards the net. It's not pretty, but it gives the Habs hope. 3-2.

- If Subban ties this my head will explode.

- Subban can't keep the line, Sens bury the game. Well, it's a loss, but not overtly bad. Still think this team did a disservice playing its most valuable defenseman through an injury in a relatively meaningless game. On to take on Florida, and Carey Price.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Subban looks to be on pace for a 35 minute night. Maybe more as the game progresses.

- I'm all cool with Subban picking up slack, but Therrien needs to play Pateryn more. 3:46 in the period with just 5d is way too low.

- Pretty good start for Habs offense in the period, but play continues to be scrambly around Hammond. Nobody able to muscle a loose puck home (more 4th line please!).

- Guess what? Habs best scoring chance of the night generated by that 4th line, Gilbert given a wide open net off a sweet pass by, guess who - Jiri Sekac. Gilbert totally misses. Should be 1-0.

- Habs forwards have been going high, very high, on Hammond tonight. Not sure if that's the book, but it's not working.

- Habs powerplay. Everything but the kitchen sink. Just won't go in. Galchenyuk still looking awfully good. Com'on guys.

- 11-4 shots on goal for Montreal this period. Subban 15 minutes, we're at the halfway mark. 

- Well, let the floodgates open. Two goals in 8 seconds, tie game. Pacioretty goes low on Hammond. That's where you need to go, guys.

- Wow. Gryba tried to blindside Eller with open ice elbow to the head. Unbelievable. Total scum. Prust comes in to settle the score and gets thumped. Still, Gryba was totally targeting Eller. 

- Hoo boy. Subban takes shot off the foot and goes to the room. Breath deep everyone. Hold it. 

- Pageau. Tokarski no chance. Original mistake by Gilbert which resulted in deep zone turnover. 2-1.

- As we anticipated, another entertaining period, with 32 more shots added to the board. Now 59, and counting. There is only one thing that matters right now, and it's Subban. If he's done for the night, so are the Habs. If he's done for longer, so are the Habs. You get my point.

FIRST PERIOD:

- So Sekac is buried on the 4th line. I guess it's better than being saddled next to Malhotra.

- Ouch. Emelin goes for a foolish body check, stumbles and foes shoulder first into the boards. Methinks Pateryn might actually get more than 5 minutes tonight.

- Galchenyuk smartly trying to test Hammond early. Habs need to hammer shots at him every opportunity.

- Therrien appears to be favouring Gilbert to pick up the slack, with Emelin possibly out for the night.

- Prust. Just can't quite deliver. It's been that way for awhile. With de la Rose seemingly sticking, will he be the odd man out next season?

- Habs announce Emelin is gone for the game. That's almost certainly an indicator of a serious injury.

- Tokarski's and Price's styles couldn't be much different. The former battles the puck, the later just eases into shots.

- Spirted pace so far, Tokarski really fighting the puck.

- Both goaltenders doing quite a flop demonstration tonight. So far it's been working. Barely.

- That tight-checking, watch-your-butt every second game we saw against Detroit has basically been tossed out the window tonight.

- Galchenyuk looks great tonight. Even more so than usual. If there's on guy who's a good bet to make a couple of marks on the scoresheet, it's him.

- Well that was a fun period, 27 shots on goal, both goaltenders were a little bit fortunate to keep everything out, but regardless, both teams's strategies are clear - throw everything possible on net and let's see what happens after the dust settles. Should make for two more exciting periods.

GAMEDAY NEWS 'N' NOTES

- JIRI SEKAC IS BACK. Hard to believe, but he's starting tonight. Yay.

- Manny Malhotra is FRICKIN' FINALLY OUT. I mean, what .. why .. who ... how ... is this guy still getting dressed for game action? Monday night against the Wings, Malhotra won 4 faceoffs. Out of 16. I mean, he has no other purpose other than to win draws. He can't do that. He must never play in a Habs uniform again. It's that simple.

- Greg Pateryn is in!! Yay. He'll replace Mike Weaver, which is kind of a boo, since Alexei Emelin will still be playing tonight. Still ... it's progress.

- Dustin Tokarski will get the start tonight. Welllllllllll ... we'll see how that goes.

- On the other hand, Sens will start their backup Andrew Hammond. So that evens that.

More in a bit!!!

Game Forty-Three: Habs vs. Senators

THIRD PERIOD:

- Yeah I know, faceoff specialist yadda yadda, abut there's no way you'll convince me that Malhaltra benefits this team and its fourth line than say, a ChristianThomas. Beyond taking draws, he's mostly a dearth.

- Therrien's line juggling, including moving Galchenyuk to the wing, Desharnais back to centre, ain't working. And I mean by "ain't working" as NOT AT ALL.

- At this point I do believe Therrien is wearing a blindfold and is generating lines by touching random players on the shoulder. That's all he's got to offer, I guess.

- Nine minutes left. This is the point where the Sens start to implode, right?

- Parenteau won't let the Sens collapse. Takes a very, very stupid high sticking penalty. That's basically his contribution tonight.

SECOND PERIOD:

- Pacioretty goes in hard, falls, appears to take a hard bump into the post with his knee.

- Karlsson. Top corner. Habs, especially Malhaltra and Parenteau, get caught sleeping. Gilbert also way out of position. Lots of muck up to be shared. 3-1. Methinks this is headed towards blowout territory.

- Therrien drawing names out of a hat to construct his 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines. Galchenyuk has been moved to the wing. Why? I guess because this is his idea of good coaching. 

- Habs on their second powerplay, still waiting for Beaulieu to finally score his first. He's come so close so many times.

- Forget that. Markov muffs it up and the line and is forced to trip. Probably shouldn't double shift him so quickly. That was a tired legs penalty.

- Parenteau really has fallen off the face of the earth, hasn't he? Not being helped by being subjected to poor line combinations by Therrien.

- Remember how good the Habs powerplay looked about 23 hours ago? Man, that seems like a distant memory now.

- Well, I guess that wasn't quite as bad a period as the first, but it still wasn't very good. Habs outshooting Sens 2-to-1, but a lot of that came as a result of some poor penalties taken by Ottawa forwards. Still don't see a whole lot of hope that the Habs will (again) salvage something out of nothing in the third period.

FIRST PERIOD:

- Well, that feels familiar. Another terrible start for the Habs. Hoffman a point shot, not overly difficult, Tokarski kicks in straight out to a streaking and un spotted Zibanejed, and it's 1-0.

- Yup. Bad Habs showing up tonight. Five minutes in, shots are 7-0 Sens. Looks like the Habs are going to take a hammering courtesy the back to back starts.

- If current trends continue, Sens will outshoot the Habs 66-18 tonight. 

-:When Emelin is your first food scoring chance 14 minutes into the game that tonight probably isn't going to be your night.

- Complete neutral zone muckup between Cowen and Ceci gifts Pacioretty a gift break, a wrister that Anderson probably should have gotten a piece of. Tie game. Sens mess up big time.

- I was all like, wow, Emelin played well last night! Thinking all like, maybe Emelin isn't all bad and stuff, Ya know?? Okay. Nevermind. Total stumble and bumble routine in front of Tokarski, Pageau eventually finding the open net. Emelin hurts the team again, costing them another goal. Again. 2-1.

- I was joking earlier when I said the Sens were on pace to get 66 shots tonight. Now I'm not so sure ....

- Well that really was a terrible period of hockey, with the Sens registering 20 shots. That the Habs are only one goal down represents a minor miracle. 

GAMEDAY GAME PREVIEW:


Oh, Radek Bonk. We miss you. That hair. That pretty boy face. Those expectations of greatness from being drafted number one overall. You really were and are the Ottawa Senators  - so full of expectations, invariably leading to so much disappointment. 

Anywho ... it's a good day, isn't it? Last night the Habs played one of their better games this season, edging out the Jackets on the scoreboard 3-2, but on the ice, more or less completely dominating their opponent. The Plekanec/Pacioretty/Gallagher line was a mind boggling +58 in shot attempts. Even Alexei Emelin wasn't (totally) terrible. 

Can this team keep it up? Can their woeful powerplay continue to produce the same way it was zapping up the red light in the 3rd period last night? Granted, this was Columbus, but they aren't really as bad as their record suggests, what with all their injuries sustained this season.

And tonight, the Habs will take on a similar opponent in Ottawa. The Senators are floating somewhere near the lesser parts of the eastern standards, although unlike the Blue Jackets, they can't use injuries as an excuse. The Jackets have lost 266 man games so far this year, Ottawa just over 100.

Anywho, here's the Sens' lines tonight:

Line 1: MacArthur-Turris-Chiasson Line 2: Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan Line 3: Michalek-Pageau-Stone Line 4: Condra-Legwand-Lazar Methot/Karlsson
Cowen/Ceci
Wiercioch/Gryba

Anderson.

So what's up with the Sens? Not a lot that's good. They're home after a four game road trip where they picked up just one win, Ottawa bears some distinct similarities to the Habs - they're not much of a possession team, ranked along with the Habs in the bottom third in the League, they're about the same as far as offensive output is concerned - where there are clear difference is defensively - the Habs have given up more than a half goal less per game than has Ottawa. Fundamentally, the game tonight will be decided by how good the Sens defense hold up, versus how poorly the Habs blue line plays.

One other factor - starting goaltending. Ottawa is expected to start their number one, Craig Anderson, while Dustin Tokarski will probably start for Montreal (even more likely considering the hard bump Carey Price took last night in the first period against Columbus).

Puck drops at 7:40, EST.