by Michael Ham-Fan, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine

MONTREAL, QC. – The Ottawa Senators have been on roll. Since February 10th, the Senators have only had four regulation losses in 31 games. The Montreal Canadiens on the other hand have had a very consistent season, recording 110 points, placing them second in the NHL for the 2014-2015 season. Montreal haven’t had a losing streak longer than three games for the entire season.

Overall matchup: The matchup seems like an interesting one as both teams have developed a modest rivalry in recent years, ever since the Senators eliminated the Canadiens in a crushing five game series back in the 2012-2013 playoffs. The Canadiens and the Senators play a different style of hockey, but they are also similar on many points.

Notably, both teams have an excellent competitive spirit. The Canadiens have shown, for the past few seasons, that they are a team that will not go down without a fight. The Senators, under new coach Dave Cameron, have shown similar compete level as they made the playoffs after being 14 points out of a spot. In my opinion, this is the most competitive Senators team I have seen, including the teams that were led by Alexei Yashin and Daniel Alfredsson. This team has a lot of heart and energy, and the Canadiens will have to bring their full effort to counter them.

Forwards: Both forward squads are fast. Ottawa may have a little more jump because of their grittiness and they are also bigger on average. From what I have seen, I think that both forward groups will cause problems for opposing defenses. Both teams have a defenseman who transition well, but have trouble defending against forwards with speed.

Ottawa’s forwards such as Mika Zibanejad, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Mike Hoffman are excellent skaters who have given trouble to the Habs in the past. On the other side, Montreal forwards such as Brendan Gallagher and Max Pacioretty also seems to find their way behind the Senators defense. For that reason, I think that both offenses are perfectly adapted to play against each other’s defense.

Also, on both sides, there is potential to improve offensively. Recently, for the Senators, the offense has mostly come from the first line featuring Kyle Turris, Clarke MacArthur and the impressive rookie Mark Stone. They are lacking in secondary scoring as of late because Bobby Ryan and Mike Hoffman have been in a slump. Ryan has only one assist in the last 10 games, and Hoffman has had two points during that same streak. If Bobby Ryan can contribute to his team’s scoring, with his skills that would make life a lot harder for the Habs.

On Montreal’s side, despite having 27 points this season, forward Lars Eller has been heating up as we approach the playoffs. Eller has 10 points in his last 17 games, and it is not only in point production that he is getting better. He seems to be a totally different player than earlier in the season. He is a player who can bring some much needed goal support from the third line.

For the Habs forwards as a whole, I do think that if they can keep the pressure down low on the Senators’ defense, they will have a lot of success.

Defense: As I previously said, both defenses are built with good 2-way players. Of course, the two biggest names are Erik Karlsson and P.K. Subban, two of the best puck-moving defenceman of this generation. Karlsson has had a Norris-worthy season, and Subban has been the Habs best defenceman along with partner Andrei Markov.

Both defenses have similar skill-sets but the Ottawa defense is bigger and stronger. They feature defencemen like Eric Gryba, Mark Borowiecki and Jared Cowen. Habs fans will remember the impact Jared Cowen had against the 2012-2013 Canadiens squad. Cowen hasn’t had a good season and has been a healthy scratch in all but 10 of the last 31 games, but I fully expect him to check back into the lineup given this current matchup.

If the Ottawa defense is more physical, the Habs defense is better at shot blocking as they have three defensemen in the top 30 in shots blocked: Andrei Markov (9th), Tom Gilbert (15th),  and P.K. Subban (26th.) Meanwhile, Ottawa’s top shot blocking defenseman is Cody Ceci (75th.)

That said, the physicality of the Ottawa defense represents an aspect where the Senators have an advantage over Montreal’s forwards.

Seeing that Ottawa’s offense has been coming mostly from one line, expect the Subban – Markov pairing to face the Turris line. This Habs’ pairing has done a wonderful job at shutting down top lines all season.

The biggest challenge for the Habs defense will be to slow down Erik Karlsson. The Swedish defenseman has a team-leading 66 points this season and he is most definitely the biggest offensive threat for the Senators.

Goaltenders: An interesting fact is that Montreal has lost three games out of four against the Ottawa Senators this season, but Dustin Tokarski recorded two of those losses. Carey Price has a 1-1 record against the Senators this season.

Carey Price has had the best season of his career, and has broken the record for most wins for a Montreal Canadiens goalie. At age 27, Price is “in his prime.” He is very focused and determined and he will be the Canadiens most important player in the playoffs (as he has been all season long.) Although Ottawa’s goaltender Andrew Hammond has a ridiculous record of 20-1-2 since his NHL debut against the Canadiens, it is hard not to give the edge to Carey Price on this duel. I am no goaltending expert, but Price’s technical positioning looks much more solid than Hammond’s, not to mention that Carey Price has a lot more experience in important games than Hammond.

The rookie goaltender has definitely been very clutch for the Senators, making big saves when he needed to, but I think that the team as a whole has played a role in Hammond’s success. By  comparison, Carey Price has carried his team for large parts of the season.

One area that Ottawa may have the advantage is at the backup position. Yes, we all hope that the starters will be able to play the whole series, but in the eventuality that a backup would be needed, Craig Anderson is a much better option than Dustin Tokarski.

Special teams: Special teams rankings for Montreal and Ottawa are practically identical. The Habs are seventh in penalty killing with a 83.7 percent efficiency while Ottawa is 11th with a 82.9 percent efficiency. Also Montreal has scored seven shorthanded goals, and Ottawa has six. On the power-play, both teams have struggled this season as Ottawa is 22nd in the league with a 16.8 percent efficiency and Montreal is 23rd with a 16.5 percent efficiency rate.

To sum up, this will be a hard fought series. I will not make any predictions, as there are way too many possible scenarios. A close series can go seven games as much as it can go in four or five games if they all end up in overtime. This will be a close series. I expect an offensive series as there will be a lot of scoring chances. It is now the time to see who rises up to the occasion and who will be able to give out the best effort between the two teams. With what I’ve seen this season, I will say this: This Canadiens team will work as hard as anyone possibly can. I am very confident of that.