BROSSARD, Quebec -- Ottawa Senators goalie Craig Anderson has made 120 saves on the 123 shots the Montreal Canadiens have taken at him in the past three games of their Eastern Conference First Round series, winning twice.
But for those concerned that Anderson might be getting in the Canadiens' heads, forward Dale Weise has a message for you: Don't bother.
"We're not a team that scores very much anyways, so goalies can't really get in our heads," Weise said Saturday. "We don't score that much as it is, so goalies don't really rattle us. Every goalie's had our number all year."
It might have appeared that Anderson was indeed throwing the Canadiens off their game toward the end of Ottawa's 5-1 win in Game 5 on Friday when he and Montreal forward Brandon Prust got involved in a dust-up in front of the net. Anderson jabbed Prust in the ribs with his stick, Prust jabbed Anderson back and things escalated from there.
"We have to make life much more difficult for Anderson, he's having an exceptional playoffs, have to give him a lot of credit," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. "But in the case of Anderson on [Friday] is that he speared the wrong guy in the ribs. He's a goalie that uses his stick a lot to hit guys in front of the net, but it just so happened that when he hit [Prust], he didn't choose the right guy."
Canadiens center David Desharnais is one of 11 players who was there in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs when Anderson outplayed Montreal goalie Carey Price to help Ottawa win in five games. But Desharnais refuses to see the similarities in that series to the one they are playing now.
"I don't think we were as good of a team two years ago, and I think they dominated us in every area," Desharnais said. "I don't think that's the case this year."
The play of Anderson after replacing Andrew Hammond in Game 3 has given the Senators a boost in confidence, one they will be riding into Game 6 at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday (6 p.m. ET; CBC, NBCSN, TVA Sports). But Desharnais made it clear the Canadiens are the team that has the biggest confidence booster in their net: Price.
"With all due respect to Anderson," Desharnais said, "we have much more confidence in our goalie than they might have in theirs."