Montreal Canadiens take on Ottawa Senators - NHL Preview
The first of two back to back meetings between Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens takes place on Wednesday, March 14, 2012, at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Both of these two great Canadian rivals will face each other after ending their two-game winning runs against Buffalo Sabres.
However, they both could not have had two completely opposite seasons.
The Senators are seventh in the Eastern Conference with 81-points and are on target for a Stanley Cup Playoff berth.
Montreal on the other hand is having a horror season as they lie bottom of the Eastern Conference with just 65-points and it is only mathematically possible that they might reach the playoff rounds.
The Canadiens though will not make things easy for Ottawa.
The Bell centre will as usual be in full voice as the home crowd will create a hostile atmosphere for the visitors and the Habs will be looking to give those fans something to cheer about after an intense 60 minutes or more.
Ottawa will be hoping to gain two-points from this encounter to close the gap between themselves and sixth placed New Jersey Devils.
However, they would do well to not be too overconfident against a Montreal side that is playing for pride and will do its best to stop Ottawa from running out the winners.
Senators (36-25-9, 81 pts)
Ottawa, have won just two of its last three games.
The Senators last victory came against Eastern Conference table toppers New York Rangers who they defeated by a huge 4-1 margin.
However, they lost their next game to the Buffalo Sabres by 4-3 after a shootout.
The Sabres made it 3-3 late in the third period and with no goals in overtime it took a shootout to separate the two teams.
Senators coach Paul MacLean was unhappy at the loss but just said that his team have to move on and play better in their next game.
"All in all it was a good game and very entertaining and we just have to move on."
Canadiens (27-32-11, 65 pts)
Two big wins over Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks on the road seemed to show that Montreal still has not given up and are fighting.
That run though ended against the Buffalo Sabres as Montreal lost 3-2 in overtime.
The Canadiens did well to remain in the game and it took a David Desharnais goal right at the death to equalise and send the game to overtime.
Unluckily for Montreal it was the Sabres who scored first and won the game.
Goaltender Peter Budaj though said that this team will never give up and will keep on fighting in each and every game.
"There's no quit in this team. There's a lot of pride and a lot of commitment to the team, to the logo, to the organization and fans."
Predictions
Montreal has performed against rivals and big opposition throughout the season and will manage to do it once more against the Senators.
The sum of goals will be less than six.
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