Ottawa @ Montreal preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 28, 2019 ) Ottawa 3, Montreal 4

The injury-challenged Montreal Canadiens look to avoid a three-game losing streak when they return home to take on the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night in an Atlantic Division battle. The Canadiens, who have lost key forwards Paul Byron (knee surgery) and Jonathan Drouin (wrist surgery) in the past week, fell in overtime to New Jersey at home Saturday before surrendering the final four goals of a 5-2 setback at Columbus on Tuesday.

Forwards Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia scored goals as Montreal took a 2-1 lead in Columbus before seeing a six-game point streak (4-0-2) come to an end as the Canadiens gave up three goals in the final 20 minutes. Montreal has won three in a row in the series and own at least a point in five straight meetings (4-0-1) with the Senators, who have recovered from a rough 1-6-1 start with eight wins in the last 13 games after grinding out a 4-3 victory at Detroit on Tuesday. Ottawa rebounded from a rough night in Buffalo to start a three-game trip by scoring three unanswered goals in the second period and holding on despite being outshot 16-3 in the final period to improve to 3-7-1 on the road. Versatile forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau continued a sizzling start with his team-leading 12th goal Tuesday for the Senators and tops the club with 16 points while being among the league leaders with a plus-16 rating.

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, RDS

ABOUT THE SENATORS (9-11-1): Speedy forward Anthony Duclair is having a bit of a renaissance in Ottawa, scoring Saturday before recording a pair of goals against Detroit to push his season total to nine. The 24-year-old Duclair registered a career-best 20 goals with Arizona in his first full NHL campaign in 2015-16, but struggled a bit since before coming to the Senators in a trade from Columbus last season and scoring eight times in 21 games. Brady Tkachuk scored his seventh goal Tuesday - third on the team behind Pageau and Duclair - while Anders Nilsson made 35 saves for his sixth win.

ABOUT THE CANADIENS (11-6-4): Center Phillip Danault recorded his 10th assist of the season Tuesday to extend his point streak to four games (one goal, five assists) while Armia snapped a five-game point drought by scoring his seventh. Left wing Tomas Tatar saw his four-game point streak come to an end Tuesday, but leads the team with 20 - three more than defenseman Shea Weber, who had scored four times and set up three in the previous five contests. Carey Price (10-5-2) lost in regulation for the first time in six games Tuesday, which could give backup Keith Kinkaid (1-1-2) the start versus Ottawa.

OVERTIME

1. Ottawa G Craig Anderson (3-7-1, .894 save percentage) could get the start Wednesday and is 12-13-3 lifetime versus the Canadiens.

2. Montreal C Max Domi has not scored in eight games this month, settling for a pair of assists, and was held to one shot Tuesday.

3. The Canadiens are last in the league in penalty killing (71.2 percent) and Ottawa is last on the power play (8.3).

PREDICTION: Canadiens 4, Senators 3