After six straight wins, the Montreal Canadiens felt the bitter taste of defeat at the hands of the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Montreal dropped a 3-2 shootout loss to the Blue and White to keep their consecutive point streak alive. At the other end of the spectrum, the Senators continue their freefall, losing a 5-4 decision to Dallas. The two clubs now find themselves tied at 78 points and share fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, and will face each other Monday night to decide who is more worthy.

Montreal has relied heavily on Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec for the bulk of their offense. The emergence of Jaroslav Spacek and return of Andrei Markov on the blue line has also helped keep the opposition at bay. Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak have been phenomenal this year; Halak exceptionally so. His 2.46 GAA and .923 save percentage have him near the top of the league in each category. Montreal has certainly benefitted from an excellent sophomore season.

The Sens’ success has depended mostly on Ottawa lifers Daniel Alfredsson and Mike Fisher, as well as newcomer Alexei Kovalev, whom they picked up after he left Montreal in the offseason. Ottawa’s biggest weakness has been goaltending. Number one starter Brian Elliott has barely kept his head above water, with a 2.65 GAA and .906 save percentage, while backup Pascal Leclaire has had even more trouble with his 3.18 GAA and .887 save percentage. Good goaltending has been tough to come in Canada’s capital city.

The Canadian teams have enjoyed considerable financial success in recent years, but the state of play outside of Vancouver and maybe Calgary has left a lot to be wanted. Montreal and Ottawa have had their share of troubles this season, and while both are in very real danger of falling out of it quickly. While in fifth place now, they are both just four points ahead of ninth-place Atlanta. Montreal is 7-2-1 in its last 10, while Ottawa is 2-7-1. Monday night’s game is huge for both clubs. A loss could spell the end for either team.