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Two teams going in opposite directions will meet Tuesday at Bell Centre when the Ottawa Senators bring their three-game winning streak into town to face the Montreal Canadiens Marian Hossa Jersey Womens , who have lost six of their past seven games (1-4-2).Despite their recent struggles, the Canadiens (12-10-5) owned the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference heading into games Monday.The rebuilding Senators (12-12-3) have been riding some improved defense during their winning streak to pull within two points of the Canadiens in the standings. The Senators, who have allowed the most goals in the NHL (109), have given up five goals in their past three games and just two in their past two games.Article continues below ...“At the start of the year I knew we were not going to be good defensively,” Senators coach Guy Boucher said Monday, “no matter how much time we would have spent on it because of personnel, age, experience and so on. You need to have something to hang your hat on and have something that makes you feel good.”Boucher said the team instead concentrated on scoring goals (which has worked, the Senators have scored 98 goals, third most in the NHL).“We bet on the right thing,” Boucher said. “The offense was there. The defensive part of the game is extremely dependent on the experience part. We knew it would take a lot of time for the young guys to get that experience.”Boucher said the players have made a commitment collectively to improve defensively.“Right now there’s a huge commitment Joakim Nordstrom Jersey Womens ,” he said.The Senators are coming off a 3-0 win against the New York Rangers on Thursday and a 6-2 win against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.“We’ve seen ourselves grow in the last two games,” Senators goaltender Craig Anderson said. “The last game against the Rangers, we were outstanding for 60, and (Sunday) again, outstanding for 60 minutes. We’re starting to string some momentum together, and playing in the right direction, playing the right way, and I think our guys are getting rewarded, too. We scored (six) goals.”The Canadiens are coming off a 3-1 loss to the Sharks on Sunday at Bell Centre. The Canadiens got behind early to the Sharks, 2-0, and never recovered.“We’re still a young team that’s still trying to improve Tyler Graovac Jersey Womens ,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien said on montrealcanadiens.com. “Learning to win is part of the development for a young team. You have to learn from these kinds of games, even if I found that we played well in the second and third periods.“We can’t start games like that and think we are going to win.”“Those two goals at the start hurt us,” Canadiens forward Phillip Danault told the team’s website. “They cost us the game. … We got some momentum back in the third period, but it wasn’t enough.”This will be the second game of the season between the Canadiens and the Senators and the first of three in a stretch of 12 days. After the game Tuesday, they meet in Ottawa on Thursday and back at Bell Centre Dec. 15.The Senators twice overcame two-goal deficits to win 4-3 in overtime in their first meeting Oct. 20 in Ottawa.Defenseman Justin Falk, signed as a free agent by the Senators on Friday, is expected to play his second game after a strong debut Saturday. Senators defensemen Mark Borowiecki and Maxime Lajoie are out with injuries. CALGARY, Alberta — In recent years, the Colorado Avalanche may have been a game Calgary season-ticket holders took a pass on — but no longer.Possibly the NHL’s most explosive line pays a visit to Alberta starting with a tilt in Calgary on Thursday.Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon lead a resurgent Avalanche.Article continues below ...Rantanen had the league’s scoring lead entering Wednesday’s game with 12 goals and 16 assists. MacKinnon was fifth (9g, 9a) and Landeskog ninth (10g Noah Hanifin Jersey Womens , 6a).The Avalanche are tied for second in the Western Conference with a 7-3-2 record.“I think we’re one of the top teams in the league in the standings,” Rantanen told nhl.com. “I know its early, but still, other teams have to look for us and be ready for us. I think we’re playing good hockey now. It’s still early and there are a lot of games left, so we just have to be consistent.”Calgary is returning home from a very successful two-game trip to Toronto and Buffalo, where they scored late in regulation each night then won in overtime.Matthew Tkachuk tipped in the tying goal with 54 seconds remaining in the third period and Johnny Gaudreau won it 2:40 in overtime.The Flames are 7-5-1 and were seventh in the Western Conference as of Wednesday morning.While the Flames are coming off back-to-back games on the road, the Avalanche are coming off a nice little rest period. They last played on Saturday, losing 3-2 in Minnesota.“Rest is the big, main thing coming out of the seven (games) in 12 (days),” head coach Jared. Bednar told nhl.com. “They had a couple days of rest. We had a good day of practice (Tuesday). We’ll have short one (Wednesday) before we fly off. Then we go back-to-back (games), and they’ll get some rest again and then put them to work and get ready for the next stretch.”The Avalanche will fly to Vancouver after Thursday’s game to face the Canucks on Friday.While the Avalanche are rested Brian Gibbons Jersey Womens , the Flames have been busy. They finish up a stretch of six games in nine days on Saturday when they host the Chicago Blackhawks.They have recovered with the two road wins after losing 9-1 to Pittsburgh and 4-3 in OT to Washington at home.“We’re getting where we want to be,” captain Mark Giordano told reporters in Buffalo. “Tonight was solid again, I didn’t think we gave up much. We’re getting to where we know what to expect out of each other defensively and we’re not cheating on offence and that’s resulting in wins.”Gaudreau is again the player to watch for Calgary. He’s off to a fast start with six goals and 10 assists in 13 games. Calgary’s top goal scorer so far is Elias Lindholm, who was acquired in the offseason from Carolina.“He’s one of those players that generates quality chances all the time,” Flames head coach Bill Peters told Postmedia News, whom he coached in Carolina. “Right now, they’re going in for him. Right now, he’s playing on a real good line with a good play-making winger and a center in Johnny and (Sean Monahan).“That’s the thing with Johnny — he makes a lot of plays. He buys guys time and Lindy’s done a good job of getting to the right spot at the right time.”