MONTREAL — The Ottawa Senators are getting a big boost for their final game against the Montreal Canadiens this season.
Senators leading scorer Mark Stone, who missed Ottawa’s last seven games with a lower-body injury, is returning to the lineup on Saturday. In his absence, the team has gone 3-2-2 and scored only 15 goals.
"He’s our top forward," said Senators coach Guy Boucher on Saturday morning. "He’s our most prolific guy, he’s at the centre of our offence and puck possession and power play and so on. We’ve missed him for a while and we knew that our offence wasn’t the same, which is normal when you miss a guy that calibre. I’m not going to expect him to come in and be outstanding the first game that he comes back, but definitely he’s going to make an impact in terms of puck possession and playmaking and in terms of our offence."
Stone, who has 22 goals and 28 assists for 50 points in 63 games this season, will complete a line with Derick Brassard and Alex Burrows.
One forward who won’t be available to the Senators for Saturday’s game is Viktor Stalberg, who suffered an upper-body injury in Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Senators defenceman Marc Methot is also out, having suffered a broken finger on Thursday.
The Senators, who started the week four points behind Montreal after back-to-back losses to the Canadiens last weekend, have narrowed the gap to one point. With a game in hand on the Canadiens, a win—in regulation or in overtime—would propel them into first place in the Atlantic Division for just the second time this season.
"I’m going to repeat what I said last weekend: We want to finish as high as possible to get home-ice advantage for the playoffs," said Canadiens coach Claude Julien on Friday. "At the same time, if we don’t win the division, it’s not the end of the world. What’s most important is that we make the playoffs."
The Canadiens, who have split the four games with Ottawa this season, have 91 points in 74 games.
The Senators, who have 90 points in 73 games, will call on goaltender Craig Anderson for this one.
Anderson, who started both games against Montreal last weekend, will be playing in his 500th NHL game. He’ll be facing off against goaltender Carey Price, who is 33-18-5 this season and has a .922 save percentage.
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