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Senators visit Canadiens in Northeast Division clash

Mar 13, 2008 - 12:56 PM Ottawa (39-25-7) at Montreal (39-23-9) 7:30 pm EDT

MONTREAL (Ticker) - The Ottawa Senators appear to be taking to new coach Bryan Murray just in time to make a run at the Northeast Division leaders, the Montreal Canadiens.

The Senators eye their third straight win on Thursday when they travel to the Bell Centre to take on the Canadiens.

After firing coach John Paddock on February 27, Ottawa continued its long midseason swoon in Murray's first five games on the bench, going just 1-3-1. However, a win at Phoenix on Saturday and a 4-1 home win against Boston on Tuesday have the Senators on their first two-game winning streak since February 7-9.

Dany Heatley recorded his seventh hat trick in the win over the Bruins, including an empty-net goal that sealed the victory.

Ottawa trails Montreal by two points in the race not only for the division, but the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Pittsburgh Penguins (40-24-7) are tied with Montreal at 87 points, and the New Jersey Devils (40-24-6) are just a point back.

The Senators have outscored the Canadiens 30-16 in their last seven meetings, going 6-1-0 over that span.

At the heart of Ottawa's success this season against their division rival has been the line of Heatley, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfreddson. The trio has combined for 12 goals and 33 points against Montreal this season.

Alfreddson, however, will likely miss the game as he recovers from a nagging back injury.

The Canadiens won for the third time in four games on Tuesday with an important 4-0 win over New Jersey. Rookie goaltender Carey Price posted 38 saves and improved to 5-2-0 since he took over for Cristobal Huet, who was traded to Washington at the trade deadline.