Game Day Notes: Game #32 - Sens @ Canadiens

An NHL veteran's career comes full circle, Nilsson makes his second consecutive start and more pre-game news and notes before tonight's 7:30 p.m. puck drop in Montreal...

1,100 for Hainsey

It's a milestone game for Ron Hainsey tonight as the veteran defenceman gets ready to skate in his 1,100th NHL game this evening in Montreal. Hainsey's pro career actually started with tonight's opponent after being selected by the Canadiens 13th overall in the first round of the 2000 NHL Draft and he has gone on to play for 7 teams over his 17 seasons.
Sens head coach D.J. Smith was instrumental in bringing Hainsey to Ottawa to help mentor a young Sens roster and shared his thoughts on the 38-year-old's lengthy National Hockey League career.
"The best part about Ron is that his game has changed from an offensive guy to a defensive guy," said Smith. "He's found a way to stay in the league by doing it right and by not riding the ups and downs."
In 1,099 NHL games, Hainsey has recorded 59 goals, 246 assists for 305 points and was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup winning team in 2016-17.

In addition to Hainsey's milestone, Jean-Gabriel Pageau will play his 400th NHL game tonight (all with the Senators).

Projected line-up

Don't mess with success as the coach shared yesterday that he'll roll with the same line-up as Monday's 5-2 victory. Smith shuffled his lines prior to facing Boston earlier this week and may have found an offensive spark with the tandem of Anthony Duclair and Chris Tierney who combined for 6 points against the Bruins (3G, 3A).
Smith has been especially impressed with Duclair who been scoring in bunches lately and is currently riding a 3-game goal scoring streak that has seen him find the back of the net five times over that span.
"The game is fast and he's our fastest player," Smith said of Duclair post-game on Monday. "He's making plays, certainly he's confident right now and he's been reliable. Sometimes that's with confidence, sometimes with age but he's been good for us all year."

Here's a refresher on what Monday's lines and pairings looked like:
Tkachuk - Pageau - C. Brown
Namestnikov - Tierney - Duclair
Ennis - Anisimov - White
Paul - L. Brown - Davidsson
Chabot - DeMelo
Borowiecki - Zaitsev
Hainsey - Goloubef

In goal

Anders Nilsson (8-8-1) is back between the pipes for the Sens tonight in Montreal and looks to build off of a stellar showing against the Bruins. Nilsson turned aside 38 of the 40 Boston shots he faced on Monday night to get back in the win column for the first time since November 22nd. Marcus Hogberg will back him up.

"Excuse me, I have to go. Somewhere there is a shirt happening."

A big shoutout to everyone who picked up one of our limited edition Borocop shirts this week. Over 300 shirts have been purchased in support of the Capital City Condors and due to their popularity they'll remain on sale in stores and online until midnight tonight.
Visit
ottawateamshop.ca
to order your shirt online or for a list of Sens Store locations
click here
.

Where to watch

It's a 7:30 p.m. start in Montreal and here's how you can catch all the action between the Sens and Canadiens...
BROADCAST: Sportsnet
RADIO:
TSN 1200
,
94,5 Unique FM
Looking for a place to catch tonight's game? Grab a crew and head out to St. Louis Bar & Grill where they'll be serving up 23 oz Devil pints of Molson Canadian for just $7.98 all game long.
To find out where our next watch party will be and specials you can enjoy, visit the full schedule
click here
.