Here are five things to watch when the Canadiens (11-6-4) play the Ottawa Senators (9-11-1) Wednesday at the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., SN, RDS, TSN 690 Radio).
Back-to-backs: This will be the fifth time this season the Canadiens play on back-to-back nights after losing 5-2 to the Blue Jackets Tuesday in Columbus. In the first four sets of back-to-backs, the Canadiens were 3-0-1 in the first game and 1-2-1 in the second game. The Canadiens have 14 sets of back-to-back games this season, the same number as last season when they went 7-5-2 in the first game and 5-8-1 in the second. This will be the third set of back-to-back games this season for the Senators, who beat the Red Wings 4-3 Tuesday in Detroit. The Senators have 13 sets of back-to-back games this season.
Back-to-back for Price? Canadiens goalie Carey Price, who took the loss in Columbus, has yet to play in back-to-back games this season. Coach Claude Julien wouldn’t confirm Tuesday morning who his goalie will be against the Senators. Backup goalie Keith Kinkaid has a 1-1-2 record in the four games he has started with a 4.23 goals-against average and a .887 save percentage. Price has a 10-5-2 record with a 2.75 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage after allowing five goals on 26 shots in Columbus.
Point-per-game pace? Tomas Tatar, who was held off the scoresheet in Columbus, leads the Canadiens in scoring with 7-13-20 totals in 21 games. The last time a Canadiens player averaged a point per game (or better) for an entire season was 2007-08, when Alex Kovalev had 35-49-84 totals in 82 games.
New coach: D.J. Smith became the 14th head coach in Senators history when he was hired on May 23, replacing Marc Crawford, who posted a 7-10-1 record in the final 18 games last season after Guy Boucher was fired. Boucher, who was in his third season behind the Senators bench, was fired 64 games into the season when the Senators had a 22-37-5 record. Smith spent the four previous seasons as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Before that, he posted a 135-53-16 record over three seasons with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, winning the OHL Coach of the Year award in 2013-14 before winning the Memorial Cup the next season.
Habs injury list: The Canadiens will be without Jonathan Drouin for at least eight weeks after he had wrist surgery on Monday and Paul Byron will be sidelined for about four weeks after knee surgery on Tuesday. The Canadiens have lost 15 man-games to injury this season after losing 160 last season and 377 in 2017-18. Max Domi played in his 218th consecutive game Tuesday in Columbus, the longest iron man streak on the Canadiens, followed by Jeff Petry (216) and Brendan Gallagher (210). Petry logged 32:12 of ice time in a 3-2 shootout win over the Blue Jackets on Nov. 12 at the Bell Centre, the second-most ice time any player has had this season. Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Reilly logged 33:16 in a 4-3 OT loss to the Washington Capitals on Oct. 29.
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