Ottawa Senators

Game Day: Canadiens @ Senators - A playoff atmosphere in the regular season
March 18, 2017, 8:38 AM ET [10 Comments]
Jared Crozier
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With Gary Bettman in town yesterday to confirm what everyone has suspected for some time, an outdoor game for the Senators at Lansdowne Park in December, that news will be put on the back burner for some more pressing attention for the Montreal Canadiens.

Like 3 games in the next 8 days head to head. Ottawa enters this one a point back of the Habs with a game in hand in the race for first in the Atlantic Division and what looks like a tougher first round matchup (although the way the Bruins have bounced back following their coaching change they definitely won't be an easy out should it work out that way).

Like the Bruins, Montreal has also responded nicely since they finally let go of Michel Therrien and pounced on Claude Julien once he became available. You can say what you will about the Atlantic being the weaker division, but Ottawa has played .750 hockey in their last 10 games (7-2-1) and have only gained a point on both the Bruins and Habs, who are each 7-3 over that span.

Montreal has had an extra couple of days rest, and both teams are coming in off losses to the Blackhawks. Montreal fell 4-2 on Tuesday, while Ottawa dropped a 2-1 decision to Patrick Kane and co. on Thursday.

These two rivals haven't played each other since October 15th, each club's second game of the season. Ottawa won that one in a shootout after blowing a 2-0 lead and needing a late third period goal to force extra time. The goaltening matchup in that one was Craig Anderson vs. Al Montoya, but this time around it will be Carey Price facing Mike Condon.

While Ottawa might not be Montreal's biggest rival given their long history with teams like Boston and Toronto, they two clubs have a pair of playoff matchups in their recent history and Montreal would be at the top of the list for a majority of Senators fans if they were asked who they hated the most.

That hatred won't diminish much as the lineup the Canadiens are icing now is pretty much the "who's who" of guys you love to hate. They have added Steve Ott to a lineup that already included Brendan Gallagher and Andrew Shaw in the pest department. Ottawa added one of those types of their own in Alex Burrows, who can play that sort of game from time to time when needed, so there will be no shortage of post-whistle scrums and yapping.

This is the lone home game of the (regular) season with the Habs and the race for first, the proximity to the playoffs and the bi-partisan crowd that tends to be at Canadian Tire Centre for games with the Canadiens should make it an exciting, playoff-like atmosphere which hopefully translates to an exciting game on the ice.