Canadiens vs. Senators: Game Four — Thread, lines, & tale of the tape

Hidden in a closet in each of our homes, or perhaps stashed away in the corner, sits a humble housekeeping implement that has been a part of human culture for thousands of years. We do not know exactly when the broom was invented, but sweeping has been a part of human life for a very long time. Tonight, the Canadiens have a chance to take out the broom against the Ottawa Senators, redeeming a past series loss and forging ahead early into the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

As has been repeated a number of times throughout this series: there is no counting out the Senators. The team that put together a run of 21-3-3 in the last two months of the regular season is not just going to roll over and let their season die. A 61 hit performance from Sunday night may even be eclipsed, and with the Senators laying out hits at about a hit-per-minute, the Canadiens will be grateful they had a couple of days of rest and relaxation before getting back to work tonight.

Notwithstanding the hits thrown the Habs' way on Sunday, the Habs jumped all over the Sens with the puck, throwing 49 shots on Craig Anderson over the course of 3.5 periods, and piled up 89 shot attempts against Ottawa's 65, 27 of which for Ottawa came in the first period (41%). Accounting for powerplays, the Habs lead in possession is cut down to 69-53, as the Canadiens had 6 powerplays in the game. If there's one area for concern for the Canadiens going into tonight's game it's the powerplay, which has gone 1/13 in the series with the only powerplay goal coming from Max Pacioretty in game 2.

The Senators' have displayed the ability to successfully utilize the "one game at a time" mentality. This may be the exact recipe they need to put them over the top in in a game. Should the Habs prevail tonight, it will be because they played their best game of the series.

The puck drops at 7:00 PM EST. The Canadiens will be without Nathan Beaulieu who sustained an upper-body injury on a hit from Erik Karlsson in Sunday's game. The Habs have called upon 6'2, 222 lb Greg Pateryn to fill in. The Senators added some more grit to their 4th line, taking out the grizzled experience of David Legwand and replacing it with Zach Smith. The Sens will be going back to Craig Anderson between the pipes.

Scratched: Mike Weaver, Manny Malholtra,  Sergei Gonchar,  P.A. Parenteau
Injuries: Nathan Beaulieu (upper body)

Scratched: David Legwand, Colin Greening, Jared Cowen, Alex Chiasson
Injuries: Robin Lehner (concussion), Chris Phillips (undisclosed), Matt Puempel (lower-body)

Check out the enemy over at Silver Seven.

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