Playing the Montreal Canadiens is a lot like playing the Toronto Maple Leafs: it’s extremely fun to beat them no matter what the circumstances are. Neither the Canadiens nor the Senators are expected to be good this season, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing to play for in this game. Hell, both teams have slightly over-achieved so far with Montreal sitting at 4-1-1 and Ottawa at 3-2-1 so both of them want to keep up their good play of late.
Coming into this game, the Senators are just 1-5-1 in their last seven contests against the Canadiens, with the one win coming at the Centennial Classic last December. If you look back a bit further though, their last 16 games give them a record of 8-7-1, which is a lot more even. Considering both teams have quite weak rosters, I wouldn’t really call either of them a sure-thing to win any matchups this season.
Yesterday Nick Paul was called up from Belleville, although he won’t be suiting up as Christian Jaros will slot in as the seventh defenseman:
Nick Paul will be the scratch. Jaros is in after being called up. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) October 20, 2018
I was a bit disappointed that Paul was called up instead of the red-hot Rudolfs Balcers or Drake Batherson, but if they were bound to be scratched like Paul anyway, then that’s the right decision. Having said that, I’m not sure why Paul Carey is in the lineup over the other Paul...Nick Paul. As I’ve said many times, this is the last chance for Paul and the Senators need to see what they have with him. He’s gotten off to a good start in the AHL with three points in two games, but he needs NHL action as well.
The lines for tonight have not been officially released, but the best guess from Daily Faceoff shows this:
Boedker-Duchene-Ryan Dzingel-Tierney-Stone Paajarvi-Pyatt-Smith White-Carey
Chabot-DeMelo Borowiecki-Harpur Lajoie-Wideman Jaros
Anderson
I don’t love seeing White on the 4th line without a third linemate, because that is not a situation he is going to be able to succeed in. The top-six looks better with Ryan Dzingel back in the lineup, and two of the defense pairings look very solid. I like having Borowiecki and Harpur together because that way they will be able to “contain the mess… within just one pairing unless either one of them gets moved around due to Jaros being the seventh defenseman.
For Montreal, here is how they should be lining up:
Tatar-Danault-Gallagher Drouin-Domi-Lehkonen Byron-Kotkaniemi-Armia Deslauriers-Peca-Shaw
Alzner-Petry Reilly-Juulsen Ouellet-Benn
Price
Tomas Tatar has been on fire to begin the season with eight points in six games, which is two more than he had in his 20 regular season games in Vegas. It will be interesting getting to see how their prized prospect Jesperi Kotkaniemi plays, as he looks like he belongs in the league although he is still without a goal...which means he’s guaranteed to score against Ottawa. The Canadiens defense is unsurprisingly horrendous, so this might be quite the high-scoring affair.
Over the off-season, Montreal brought in another player that people love to hate, and that is Max Domi. I’m eager to see what he does in this first game to get Ottawa fans to despise him because it’s only a matter of time. Having him and Gallagher on the same team is going to be quite interesting. Then once Brady Tkachuk comes back, things will get even spicier.
It’s always a fun night watching these two teams play, as they’ve been a much bigger rival than Toronto over the past five years. I can’t wait for the Twitter content if the Senators win.
Puck drop is at 7:00 EST.