Game Thread: Game 5 of 7 Game Road Trip Takes Habs To The Nation's Capital

[Habs n Jays Fan]

Montreal Canadiens(19-18-3) at Ottawa Senators(19-15-4)

All Time Series: 47-41-5-3 278 GF 289 GA

Vitals:

Montreal: 101 GF(T-20th), 108 GA(T-16th), 10-9-1 Road, 25.0% PP(1st), 84.3% PK(8th), Habs have won 5 of their last 7 on the Road

Ottawa: 103 GF(T-15th), 110 GA(T-18th), 13-5-3 Home, 15.4% PP(T-28th), 82.1% PK(13th), Sens have 3 of their last 4 at Home

Previous Meetings:
Oct. 17th- Ott- 3-1 L
Dec. 8th- @Ott- 4-1 W

Probable Goalies:

Jaroslav Halak: 10-5-0, 2.53 GAA, .923 SV%, 1 SHO
Career vs Ott: 6 GP, 3-3-0, 2.83 GAA, .921 SV%
Last Game vs Ott: 1 GS, 1-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .978 SV%

Pascal Leclaire: 9-6-1, 2.91 GAA, .894 SV%
Career vs Mtl: 3 GP, 2-1-0, 1.35 GAA, .954 SV%, 1 SHO
Last Game vs Mtl: 1 GS, 1-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .964 SV%

Players To Watch:

Montreal- Andrei Kostitsyn
Season- 37 GP, 12 G, 12 A, 24 Pts, +4, 18 PIM
vs Ott- 19 GP, 7 G, 3 A, 10 Pts, -3, 2 PIM
Streak- 11 goals and 8 assists over last 17 games

Ottawa- Alex Kovalev
Season- 35 GP, 7 G, 14 A, 21 Pts, +3, 24 PIM
vs Mtl- 51 GP, 9 G, 28 A, 37 Pts, -10, 55 PIM
Streak- 3 goals and 7 assists in 14 December games

Pre-Game Reports:

Montreal:
Brian Gionta(broken foot)- Probable...if not this game, he's good to go Wednesday
Roman Hamrlik(knee)- Questionable
Paul Mara(hand/wrist)- Questionable..has travelled with the team but unknown when he'll return

Ottawa:
Daniel Alfredsson(shoulder)- Out
Nick Foligno(lower body)- Out
Jason Spezza(knee)- Out

[McMikel]

With Alfredsson, Habs killer supreme, out, our guys should throttle this team.

[Habs n Jays Fan]

So this is what a full line up actually looks like? It's been so long I forgot we had 12 actual NHL forwards.

[Habs n Jays Fan]

WHOO 2-0. Anyone else really liking Pouliot?

On a sidenote, this is the 20 000th game the Habs have played in team history(since the NHL formed).

[Habs n Jays Fan]

That was definitely a game we should have won. Thanks Fraser and McCreary, you guys are 2 of the worst refs in the NHL. Not a single Sens penalty yet I could honestly count 4 in the last 10 minutes by Kovalev alone.

We have Tampa on Wednesday and Florida on Thursday, Price is definitely getting one of those starts.

[McMikel]

Hosed... again. I was RDS'ing, Dean Brown must have been gooing all over himself (I'd listen Pierre for life before ten minutes of that Ottawa d-bag). I'm not objective when it comes to the Corndogs, there is no team in hockey I dislike more. They will swallow their guts before April and make for Murray headlines.

Disappointing, but this team is starting look like a Montreal team. Before the zebras took over, Montreal was buzzing. Poullot is going to make people forget about Gui! Gui! Gui!

Two points in Florida would be great, anything more outstanding.