Spoiler in Montreal?

Posted by Gord Wilson on April 6, 2009

Hi everyone and greetings from Montreal, where the Senators have  travelled to face the Canadiens tonight. It's the  sixth and final meeting of the year  between the two teams. Sens are 1-2-2 against the Habs this season. The last meeting saw Ottawa win  5-4 on March 19 at Scotiabank Place, but the Senators are still looking for their first win here this season.

Senators won't change the lineup tonight, so everything remains status quo from the group that beat the  Flyers 4-3 in a shootout on Saturday. Senators have won eight straight at home and are hoping to capture some of that magic tonight against a Montreal team that will be without defencemen Mathieu  Schneider and Andre Markov. Both suffered undisclosed injuries during Saturday's 6-2 win over Toronto and neither will be available tonight.

That being said, the Habs have still won five of their last six games and are playing some pretty consistent hockey of late. Jaroslav Halak will get the call in goal; he's been great against Ottawa this year, going 2-1.

And speaking of goalies, it was  great to see Pascal Leclaire on the ice in full gear for the Senators this morning. He went out early with goalie coach Eli Wilson. It was his first full gear skate in several months. I spoke with him afterwards and this is what he had to say (click for audio).

Line combos remain the same for the Senators: 15-19-11, 71-12-26, 89-22-25 and 73-18-5. 

On defence: 4-24, 9-17 and 14-55. Alex Auld gets the call in goal.

It's a 7:30 start and this one is on Rogers Sportsnet and, of course, can be heard on TEAM 1200 and all along the OLG Slots and Casinos radio network with yours truly and Dave Schreiber.

I'm Gord Wilson, enjoy the game.