The Ottawa Senators wrap up their back-to-back neutral-site preseason games in Quebec City on Tuesday night, taking on the Montreal Canadiens. The Sens are coming off a 2-0 win over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday and will hit the ice again at 7 p.m., with English TV coverage available (hopefully) on TSN2, RDS, and TSN5.
The Sens line combinations won’t be quite like they were at the game day skate this morning. As mentioned earlier in this space, game-day skates in the preseason aren’t always a predictor of how things will align for the game. According to Coming in Hot‘s Brent Wallace, who’s in Quebec City, we’ll see this instead:
Perron – Cozens – Zetterlund
Cousins – Pinto – Amadio
Lycksell – Halliday – Kaliyev
MacEwen – Jenik – Hodgson
Sanderson – Zub
Chabot – Yakemchuk
Sebrango – Spence
Merilainen
Sogaard
In one way, you could look at this as a battle for the backup goalie job. In another way – a much more accurate way – Merilainen will be Linus Ullmark’s understudy this season.
The Sens’ bottom six forwards are all duking it out for one or two forward jobs – always a weird vibe to be competing both with and against your linemates. Carter Yakemchuk and Donovan Sebrango are also hoping to land a spot on the NHL roster and will both be paired with experienced players.
The Sens are 2-1 in the preseason so far and still have 31 players in camp. They dressed a lot of their opening night regulars in their game on Sunday afternoon against the Devils, and in their exhibition opener versus Toronto the Sunday before.
The Habs are 3-1 with 29 guys still in camp. They held a morning skate at the CN Sports Complex before leaving for Quebec City on Tuesday. The Sens will get their first main camp look at 19-year-old Ivan Demidov, who will likely give them trouble in the Atlantic for the foreseeable future. They also get a double dip of Xhekajs, who don’t mind causing trouble of a different kind.
Here’s the Canadiens projected lineup for tonight’s matchup:
Bolduc-Dach-Gallagher
Newhook-Kapanen-Demidov
Veleno-Beck-Laine
F. Xhekaj-Evans-Anderson
Matheson-Engstrom
A. Xhekaj-Hutson
Struble-Carrier
Dobes
Kahkonen
With the infusion of travelling Montreal fans, we’re likely to see a bigger crowd for this one, and as Travis Green says he expects, a game that feels more like the regular season.
More Sens Headlines From The Hockey News Ottawa:
Broadcast Frustrations Resurface For Senators Fans
Ullmark Sharp In Senators Victory, Embraces The Struggle
Stephen Halliday’s NHL Stock Continues to Rise
Former Senator Josh Norris Embraces New Opportunity To Prove Himself
Will This Be Shane Pinto’s Breakout Year With The Senators?
Batherson Joins Ottawa Senators List Of Preseason Injury Concerns
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