***** Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. Stay warm and safe. 

By Steve Farnham, AllHabs.net

MONTREAL, QC. — With three games left to close out the 2011 year, the Montreal Canadiens find themselves at the bottom looking up, with much ground to gain in order to find themselves in a more comfortable position, and to have any chance of making the playoffs. They currently sit in 12th position, six points out of eighth in the Eastern Conference, a position [eighth] that is currently being held by the Ottawa Senators, who the Canadiens play tonight in Ottawa.

A few stat bullets:

Senators:

• Record of 5-3-2 in their last ten games.
• Lost their last game to Carolina, 2-1 in overtime.
• Current Home Record: 10-7-1.

• Record of 3-5-2 in their last ten games.
• Currently hold the league’s longest losing streak which has now stretched to five games.
• The teams they faced during this five game losing stretch were the Philadelphia Flyers (4-3), New Jersey Devils (5-3), Boston Bruins (3-2), Chicago Blackhawks (5-1) and most recently, the Winnipeg Jets (4-0).
• Current Road Record: 8-9-1.

For tonight’s matchup, the Habs will have Carey Price in the net, while his opponent will be Craig Anderson for the Sens. Here is your goalie matchup:

Carey Price		Craig Anderson
	Against the Senators: Career Appearances: 16 Record: 9-5-0 GAA: 2.35 Sv%: 0.916% Shutouts: 3 Season: Record: 12-12-7 GAA: 2.45 Sv%: 0.913% Shutouts: 2		Against the Canadiens: Career Appearances: 8 Record: 3-3-1 GAA: 2.78 Sv%: 0.908% Shutouts: 0 Season: Record: 15-11-3 GAA: 3.27 Sv%: 0.899% Shutouts: 0

Although Craig Anderson and the Ottawa Senators have a better record than Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens, the goaltending stats are in favor of Price. The fact that the Ottawa Senators have scored 23 more goals than the Canadiens in as many games played probably plays a large part in this equation.

Interesting to note, Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens have won both their games this season, following games where they were shutout. They will try to make that three tonight.

Another interesting note, Craig Anderson seems to be easily distracted by the ladies as you will see below. Hopefully, there will be plenty of distractions at Scotiabank Place tonight.

If you haven’t met our resident mascot, Puck the Bunny, who also predicts the outcome of hockey games, I invite you to check out his latest as he predicts the outcome of tonight’s matchup between the Canadiens and the Senators. [Video available here]