NO. 2 MONTREAL CANADIENS (29-14-5) VS NO. 7 OTTAWA SENATORS (25-17-6)
STRENGTHS
CANADIENS: They finished fourth in goals-for during the regular season with 3.04 per game, and with the fourth-best power play (20.7 per cent), so they can score. They are also deep up front, with three lines that can score. Eight of those nine forwards had more than 25 points. The ninth, Rene Bourque, played only 27 games because of a concussion and finished with seven goals and six assists. P.K. Subban, getting consideration for the Norris Trophy, had 11 goals and 27 assists. He and Andrei Markov have done a terrific job anchoring the points on Montreal’s power play.
SENATORS: They were terrific at killing penalties during the regular season, finishing first with an efficiency percentage of 88 per cent. This is a good thing because they are the league’s thirdmost penalized team, averaging 13.6 minutes a game. Only five teams had more majors than Ottawa’s 27. It helps that they have two of the league’s better goalies in Craig Anderson and Robin Lehner, who together helped the Senators finish second in goals-against, allowing only 2.08 per game.
WEAKNESSES
SENATORS: Without Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson for much of the season, the Senators have struggled to score goals, generating only 114. They finished 27th in the league with an average of 2.33 goals per game. Only five players finished with 20 or more points. The power play was also not very good, finishing 20th at 15.9 per cent. This is where Karlsson will be important.
CANADIENS: On the flip side of an excellent power play, the Canadiens haven’t been very good at killing penalties. They finished 23rd, at 79.8 per cent, allowing 11 goals on 36 chances over the final eight games. The Canadiens also finished 14th in goals-against, at 2.58 per game. Goaltender Carey Price is also a question mark after his brutal finish to the regular season.
BREAKING IT DOWN
FOR THE SENATORS TO WIN: Karlsson will have to help them generate some offence, and veterans such as Daniel Alfredsson, Milan Michalek and Kyle Turris, the team’s leading scorer, will have to find a way to contribute. They also need Craig Anderson to continue his fine play between the pipes. He finished with the best goals-against average (1.69) and the best save percentage (.941) and if he hadn’t suffered an ankle injury, he would have had more than 12 wins. The Canadiens will test him.
FOR THE CANADIENS TO WIN: Price must regain his early-season form. His goals-against average ended up 29th, at 2.59, and his save percentage was 35th, at .905. Overall, Price has a playoff record of 8-15.