Senators at Canadiens
The Ottawa Senators have shown some positive signs with two straight victories against teams in playoff positions and seek their first three-game winning streak since mid-October when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday afternoon. The Senators have plenty of work to do to get back in postseason contention, but they knocked off Anaheim in overtime on Thursday before winning 4-3 in shootout at Philadelphia two days later.
Ottawa coughed up a two-goal lead in the third period against the Flyers, allowing the tying tally with less than three seconds left, but Mike Hoffman netted the shootout winner as the team was victorious for just the seventh time in 24 road games. The Senators won the most-recent meeting after dropping the first two of the season to the Canadiens, who jumped out to a four-goal lead before holding on for a 5-2 home triumph over Anaheim on Saturday. Defenseman Jeff Petry recorded a pair of goals - doubling the team's total from its last two contests - for Montreal, which halted a three-game slide. Carey Price likely will be back in net for the Canadiens after being rested on Saturday and is 21-9-4 with a .922 save percentage in his career versus the Senators.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, RDS
ABOUT THE SENATORS (17-24-9): Derick Brassard ended his eight-game point drought with a goal on Saturday while Matt Duchene netted his eighth tally in his 36th contest since being acquired from Colorado in a three-way trade. Leading scorer Mark Stone (18 goals, 44 points) still is doubtful with a knee injury while defenseman Erik Karlsson has notched three of his 34 points in three contests since his appearance in the All-Star Game. Magnus Paajarvi, who was drafted 10th overall by Edmonton in 2009, has yet to record a point in three games since being claimed off waivers from St. Louis.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (21-25-6): Jonathan Drouin, who leads the team with 19 assists, left Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury after being hit by a teammate’s shot, but X-rays were negative and he will be re-evaluated. Captain Max Pacioretty notched an assist to push his team-leading point total to 32 while Alex Galchenyuk also helped set up a tally and is second on the club with 30. Montreal matched a season high with three power-play goals - two by Petry - on Saturday and is 11-for-43 with the man advantage since the start of January to move into the top-third of the league at 20.8 percent.
OVERTIME
1. Canadiens RW Brendan Gallagher leads the team with 18 goals and has collected five points in his last five games.
2. Ottawa LW Chris DiDomenico scored his fourth goal of the season Saturday and first since being recalled in mid-January.
3. Montreal rookie D Victor Mete (plus-4 rating) snapped his eight-game point drought with an assist in the victory over Anaheim.