Ottawa Senators Tim Stutzle reminds Montreal Canadiens Brendan Gallagher who's boss

There was preseason hockey tonight in Montreal between the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators and it got off to a surprising start.

Early in the first period with the Canadien pressing Ottawa forward Tim Stutzle took Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher into the corner and dumped him hard, while simultaneously pasting him into the boards.

It should be remembered that Gallagher has made some choice remarks about Stutzle which I doubt have been forgotten. This hit was probably just a coincidence but people don't forget about what you say about them and in the heat of the moment, especially coming into the corner at full speed you have to watch yourself as anything can happen.

Unfortunately when you play outside yourself, sometimes you get what's coming to you in the form of payback. For Tim Stutzle that meant that Canadiens defenceman Arber Xhekaj came looking for him and ultimately found him. I suspect the NHL Department of Player Safety may take a good hard look at this one. It's been a busy week for Xhekaj and one of these days his occasional reckless play will come back to haunt him.

While the play of the Senators and Canadiens has been disappointing over the last number of seasons both of them may be in for another difficult season. There should be a glimmer of hope that both eastern Canadian teams have improved enough to at least push for a playoff spot or at the very least be more competitive than they have been in recent years. The game is much better when all Canadian teams are and remain competitive. It would be great if fans were able to see more of this as the season goes on. While nothing is for certain, it is likely that the two clubs will be chasing each other up and down the standings the entire season.