Oct 22 Game 7 Preview: Canadiens Vs Senators

The Montreal Canadiens travel to Ottawa to face the Senators Saturday night for the second time so far this early into the season. The Canadiens had to come back to win the game 4-3 by scoring 3 unanswered goals, despite out-shooting the Senators 40 to 19. Carey Price was not sharp in that game, but he made the big saves which allowed the Canadiens to come back and win. He was arguably just as unfocused against New Jersey, while making some of the same big saves that kept the Habs in the game, however he was missing the 4 goals by his offense to help him get the win. This will be their 102nd game of the series, with the Canadiens holding a 48-44-5 lead, however Montreal does have a losing record in Ottawa.

Montreal already holds a win against Ottawa, and has a 2-1 record so far on the road.

The 3rd Amigo role is still up for grabs with the paring of Gionto and Gomez. Pyatt will most likely start the night with them, but if the Canadiens fall behind early, or he looks out of place, you can expect either Cammalleri, Boyd or even Moen to take his place.

Kostitsyn and Plekanec have been the hottest Habs, but Cammalleri (who the girls believe is the "hottest" Hab) has been on a cold streak, getting zero points in his last 3 games.

Has Lars Eller played his way out of the doghouse? He did see some ice time on the 2nd line against New Jersey...

Scoring is an issue for the Habs, who have the least amount of goals scored out of the top 10 teams. Main area of concern is the power play. Canadiens seem to be sorely missing a strong presence at the blue line. And while Markov presence should help when he returns, he does not have a strong shot.

The Skinny on the Senators

Like New Jersey when they played the Canadiens Thursday night, the Senators now have the worst record in the Eastern Conference. (updated) with the win against Buffalo Friday night, Senators are now tied with the Devils for the 2nd worst record in the Eastern Conference

When your GM openly starts talking about trading players, you know things are going badly. Will they decide to respond Saturday night at home? One of the players called out by the GM was Alex Kovalev, who has previously said that he wanted to play until he was 50.

Brian Elliot just won his first game of the season stopping 34 pucks for a 4-2 victory over Ryan Miller and the Sabres. Alfredsson is showing the leader that he is by scoring a hat trick

Tags: habs \ hockey \ Montreal Canadiens \ NHL \ Ottawa Senators