The Montreal Canadiens will face the NHL’s best goalie tonight statistics wise as Ray Emery leads the NHL in both save percentage and goals against average. The Habs will counter with David Aebischer who has had a few slow starts this season but always seems to get better as the game progresses.
Both the Senators and Canadiens will be looking to rebound after loses to divisional opponents. The Senators were beaten by the Boston Bruins via a late third period power play goal from former Senator Zdeno Chara. The Canadiens also lost to a divisional opponent the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 7th round of a shootout. The Canadiens were out shot 51-22 in that contest.
The Ottawa Senators begun the season very lackadaisically scoring just 11 goals in their first 6 games, but their top guns have rights the ship and the Senators have scored 22 times in their last four outings. The Canadiens have scored with a fair amount of consistency as they are tied with the Predators for 8th overall in goals per game average.
After countless juggling with the 2nd line Guy Carbonneau hopes that his all Russian trio of Kovalev Samsonov and Perezhogin will finally generate some reliable secondary scoring to compliment the 1st line of Koivu Ryder and Higgins. All four goals were scored or assisted on by the Russian Trio.
Game Notes:
Wade Redden is doubtful and Peter Schafer is listed as questionable for tonight’s game. The Canadiens will still be without the services of Mathieu Dandenault and Francis Bouillon but Aaron Downey may make his comeback from post concussion syndrome this evening.
Fun Facts
1. Sheldon Souray is the only NHL defenseman to have the outright lead for shots on goal for his team.
2. Senators tough guy Chris Neil is just 3 penalty minutes shy of 800 for his career.
3. Last season the Senators won the first three meetings of the season series with the Canadiens but were only able to win just once more in the final five meetings.