Senators look for second win against Canadiens
OTTAWA -- - Under new coach Guy Boucher, the Ottawa Senators are determined to tighten up defensively this season.
Their first attempt, Wednesday night at Canadian Tire Centre against the Toronto Maple Leafs, didn't turn out very well.
The Senators, who allowed a league high 32.8 shots per game during the 2015-16 campaign, scored a 5-4 overtime victory over the Leafs despite being outshot 38-30. Goalie Craig Anderson was unbeatable to everyone except center Auston Matthews, who became the first player in NHL history to score four times in his debut.
Anderson will be in goal again Saturday night when the Senators host the Montreal Canadiens.
"We know we have to allow less shots," said Boucher, who blamed the high total by the Maple Leafs on four penalties taken by his team. "We need to improve that. We were on our way to doing it but when you lose that much momentum because you're on the penalty kill all the time and they get shots, that's gone down the drain."
The Canadiens, who defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 in their season opener Thursday, will remain on the road for their second game. Once again they will be without star goalie Carey Price, who is battling what the team calls a "severe" case of the flu.
Goalie Al Montoya, who stopped 30 shots in Buffalo, will be back between the pipes for the Canadiens.
"Guys had the right mentality," Montreal captain Max Pacioretty said of the one-for-all approach in Price's absence. "Guys sticking up for each other, a lot of selfless plays out there, some blocked shots, taking hits to make plays. That's our motto for this team no matter who you are in the lineup."
The Canadiens are expected to be bolstered by the return of defensemen Jeff Petry, who missed the opener with a knee injury.
Montreal was concerned it would be without forward Andrew Shaw, but the league decided against any supplemental discipline for his slew foot on Sabres forward Johan Larsson.
Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said Shaw will meet next week with general manager Marc Bergevin and NHL Department of Player Safety head Stephane Quintal for "education."
At the same time, Therrien said Shaw is "an intense player and you want to make sure he doesn't lose that edge."
The Senators will go with the same lineup they used against Toronto, which means defenseman Thomas Chabot, the team's first round selection in 2015, will be a healthy scratch for the second game in a row.
Boucher said that Chabot will play in one of the team's back-to-back games next week, either in Detroit Monday or back in Ottawa against Arizona on Tuesday. At some point, the Senators have to decide if they're keeping Chabot or sending him back to his junior team.
"It's not a developmental league, it's a performance league," said Boucher. "He will need to play to see if he's ready. If he's ready he'll stay, and if he's not ready he won't stay."
