The Sens and Habs are fighting for the same future and seemingly the same playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.
In enemy territory, Brady Tkachuk waltzed into Montreal’s slot and ripped the puck home to finish the game on Tuesday night. Tkachuk then celebrated by roaring at a Canadiens fan in a Grinch costume in the front row who had taunted him in warm-ups with what looked to be an unappealing AI portrait of Tkachuk’s face on a poster.
Sports hatred at its finest.
“It was up there,” said Tkachuk about the atmosphere as boos filled the arena during the sequence that ended with his goal.
“I don’t know if they’re booing me or booing the play behind me, but always nice when I hear the boos from this crowd.”
The best rivalries in hockey have bloodshed, drama and characters — and both teams have to be good. The 5-2 triumph was extra sweet for the Senators, who vaulted ahead of Montreal in the tight Atlantic standings.
“At this time of the year, this is probably as close to a playoff-like game (as) you’re going to get,” Senators coach Travis Green said.
Let’s hope this is a preview of a contentious first-round series.
Both sides are young, hungry to win and entering their window to succeed. The rivalry had been on the back-burner for a long while. There were playoff battles in 2013 and 2015, but last season was the first time since 2017 that both teams were in the playoffs at the same time.
How often have you heard the debate among the fanbases about who’s better — Jake Sanderson or Lane Hutson?
On Tuesday, Sanderson scored the game-winning goal in the second period.
Do Montreal fans remember that the team passed on Tkachuk for Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the 2018 draft?
Yet, the Canadiens have the dynamic Juraj Slafkovsky as power forward and elite sniper Cole Caufield.
Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle and Montreal’s Nick Suzuki are both young superstar centres.
Ottawa’s Linus Ullmark is a Vezina winner; Montreal’s Sam Montembeault and Jakub Dobes not so much but Jacob Fowler is a promising netminder prospect waiting his turn with AHL Laval.
We can’t forget other key players stars such as the Habs’ Ivan Demidov and Ottawa’s Drake Batherson, who outmatched Demidov on the scoresheet on Tuesday.
The two teams do not like each other. There were relatively few fisticuffs Tuesday, but it was a physical contest. Ottawa’s enforcer Kurtis MacDermid was inserted back into the lineup for the first time in seven games against the Canadiens. He has played in both games against Montreal this season.
It was just two pre-seasons ago when Arber Xhekaj went at Tim Stutzle, and Ridly Greig went after Kirby Dach. Absolute chaos.
Earlier this season, Nick Cousins slashed Demidov before Jayden Struble took down Cousins.
“We remember what happened,” Xhekaj told Jonathan Bernier of Le Journal de Montreal earlier this season about the Cousins slash. “Nobody likes dirty tricks like that.”
Don’t forget Brendan Gallagher called Stutzle a diver a few years back, while Stutzle has said in the past his favourite team to play and beat is Montreal.
It truly is a lovely rivalry.
The Senators’ edge seems to be the size of their stars. Of Ottawa’s big three, Sanderson, Stutzle and Tkachuk all are above the six-foot mark. Meanwhile, of Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson and Demidov, only one (Demidov) is over six feet.
Ottawa has more than enough centres while Montreal has been looking for a second-line centre for what feels like the entire century.
But Montreal has more prospects on the way, likely more money to spend with a rising cap, and all of its core signed long-term outside of Demidov. Tkachuk’s free agency in three years makes Ottawa’s window to win narrower.
It’s a battle between Montreal’s agility, deftness and skill and Ottawa’s power, speed and ruggedness.
On Tuesday, Ottawa’s cycling, zone play and forecheck beat Montreal’s speed and skill.
“That’s the Senators when we’re at our best, it’s not pretty, it’s greasy,” said Tkachuk after the game.
“It’s the wall battles, getting to the net, getting shots to the net, and just playing that stingy game.”
The rivalry will resume Jan. 17.
It’s taken a long time for Fabian Zetterlund to find his scoring touch, but good things are happening. The Senators forward has four goals and an assist in his last six games, including a goal and an assist against Montreal.
Zetterlund’s grandmother passed away a couple of days earlier.
“It was for her,” Zetterlund said.
It’s not just his shooting touch, Zetterlund’s been driving play. In his last six games, he has a 68 per-cent expected goals share — second-best on the team in that time — and has the best high-danger chances share at 69 per cent, which is best on the team. Zetterlund was promoted to the top line on Tuesday with Tkachuk and Stutzle, the trio which started the season together before Tkachuk’s injury.
“He’s such a horse, like just the power in his game, I feel like every puck battle, he wins it,” said Tkachuk.
The trio has dominated play (in a small sample size) with a 64-per-cent expected goals share. If Zetterlund continues to produce at a solid clip, the Senators have found a top-six forward.
The Senators went 4-3-0 on their seven-game road trip, with six of their seven opponents in a playoff spot based on points percentage.
“We wanted to get this road trip (with an) over-.500 record, and that’d be a successful trip.” said Tkachuk.
The Senators have played 36 per cent of the road games this season, and they are a game above .500 at 7-6-2.
The Senators had a whopping six points from their defenceman against Montreal, including a pair of goals for partners Sanderson and Artem Zub. It’s part of a trend. The Senators have 66 points from their blueline this season, which ranks fourth in the NHL this season. Last season, they had the 18th-most points from the back end.
“Talked to our D about being more involved off the breakouts when they could,” said Green. “I thought they did a good job of that. I thought they did an outstanding job in the offensive zone as well.”
Both Sanderson and Zub’s goals came from them pinching down to the goal line.
The Senators are now 12th in the NHL in goals scored. It helps when Sanderson is on pace for 18 goals and 66 points.
Special teams remain a problem
The Senators look good five-on-five, but lag on special teams. They are eighth in the league with a plus-five goal differential at five-on-five. But they are stuck in a four-for-41 rut on the power play.
“Score … No secret they got to be a bit better,” said Green.
Meanwhile, the Senators allowed two goals to Montreal on their penalty kill, slumping to dead last on the penalty kill in the NHL. The Senators have weathered woeful special teams before, but that’s not a recipe for long-term success.