With their second matinee in as many days, the Canadiens now face the Ottawa Senators at home, before hockey is put aside for Super Bowl LII.
Now you may be wondering why I’m mentioning football, but there are actually a few interesting stats when it comes to the Habs and Super Bowl weekends:
Apropos of nothing, #Habs record through their 26 previous Super Bowl weekend matinée doubleheaders pic.twitter.com/8r2dutrTyn
— Dave Stubbs (@Dave_Stubbs) February 3, 2018
Including yesterday’s victory against the Anaheim Ducks, Montreal is now 28-19-4-2 all-time during the NFL’s championship weekend.
Tonight against the Senators, Montreal could improve upon a 14-10-1-1 record on Super Bpwl Sundays, and we might have an interesting matchup, as both teams gained confidence in previous games from wins against opponents higher in the standings.
Montreal is fresh off a 5-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks yesterday, powered by an exceptional performance by Jeff Petry, who had a two-goal game, and has performed brilliantly since stepping into a top role on the Canadiens’ blue line.
He has six points in his last five games, three of them goals, and has been a factor in almost every game the Canadiens have won of late.
After leaving the game yesterday, Jonathan Drouin will most likely be a game-time decision today.
How to watch
Puck drop: 1:00 PM EST / 10:00 AM PST
In Canada: Sportsnet
In the Canadiens/Sens region: RDS (French)
Elsewhere: NHL.tv/NHL GameCentre Live, NHL Center Ice
Ottawa has had arguably a worse season than the Canadiens at this point, but got the best of the Habs in their last meeting during the NHL 100 Classic, beating Montreal 3-0 at Lansdowne Park.
The Senators have a 3-7-0 record in their past 10 games, but are coming off a strong effort against the Philadelphia Flyers. They will most likely join the Habs in the group of teams who will miss the post-season, and are surrounded with trade talk as the deadline approaches.
It seems like no one is safe on the Sens roster, as core pieces such as Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone, and even superstar captain Erik Karlsson have been mentioned amongst the trade talks that circulate during this time of the season.
A similar thing is occurring with the Canadiens, both in terms of trade rumours and season record, however the Habs have a slight edge in the seasons series, with two wins in three games, and rivalry games are always entertaining to watch no matter where the teams are located in the standings.
Both teams have found their scoring touch in recent games as well, so it could be a high-scoring affair, despite both sides playing the latter half of back-to-back sets.
