Ottawa's record heading into this weekend currently sits at 3-2-1 and even with it being mid-October, Matt Duchene pointed out that there's a big difference between waking up on Sunday at 4-2-1 instead of 3-3-1.
"It's still early obviously but we've got to be humble," Duchene said. "We need to understand that we haven't accomplished anything yet and I'm sure they have the same attitude."
For at least one Senator, Saturday's game against the Canadiens will take on another special meaning as Max Lajoie gets the opportunity to line up against his childhood team for the first time.
"My parents were huge Canadiens fans when I was growing up," said Lajoie. "So I followed them and adopted Montreal as my favourite team as a kid. Once the game starts though, it's just another team but it'll be cool to go up against guy like Carey Price who I watched as a kid."
While Lajoie gets ready for his first game against Montreal tomorrow, Smith will be participating in his 35th regular season game against the Canadiens and he's seen the rivalry evolve over the course of the last decade.
"It's always fun to play against Montreal. The rivalry is still there," said Smith. "The teams that they've beaten and the way that they've played in those games so far this year…you have to respect that. They're going to be a good opponent for us this weekend."
Duchene echoed Smith's thoughts on the importance of this weekend's contest especially with the starts each team has enjoyed this season.
"It's a divisional game against a team that we're going to be battling with all season long," Duchene said. "This is an important game for us. It's on our home ice and it's on Hockey Night in Canada so it should be exciting for everybody."
Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre and you can grab some tickets to the game
here
.
