Ottawa Senators vs Montreal Canadiens

Lore & Background

The roots of this rivalry run deeper than any single franchise. In the 1880s and 1890s, Ottawa and Montreal clubs met in the ECA and the early Stanley Cup challenges, and the Ontario–Quebec divide gave every game a political and cultural edge that transcended sport. By the time the NHL was founded in 1917, the original Ottawa Senators were already a founding member, and their clashes with the Canadiens—then a rising force—became the league's marquee rivalry. The 1920s and 1930s saw both clubs trading Stanley Cup titles, and the animosity in the stands mirrored the provincial tensions of the era.

When the original Senators folded after the 1953–54 season, the rivalry went dormant for nearly four decades. Montreal's dynasty under Toe Blake, Maurice Richard, and Jean Béliveau cemented the Canadiens as the league's standard-bearers, and the absence of an Ottawa franchise left a void in the Ontario–Quebec narrative. The 1992 return of the Senators as an NHL expansion team reignited the feud, and games at the Ottawa Civic Centre (later Scotiabank Place, now Canadian Tire Centre) against the Canadiens at the Molson Centre (now Bell Centre) carried the same electric, almost hostile energy that had defined the rivalry a century earlier.

The rivalry endures not because of any single incident but because of accumulation: a hundred-plus years of heated five-on-five battles, provincial pride, and the simple fact that when Ottawa and Montreal meet, the game means something to both cities in a way that no other matchup quite replicates.

In Their Own Story

The arena is half-full and the ice still smells of fresh Zamboni steam. A Senators forward, breath fogging in the cold air, taps his stick against the boards near the blue line while the Canadiens bench huddles in their corner, coaches barking in French across the rink. The puck drops. For a long, grinding minute neither team can gain possession; it's all shoulder checks, faceoff battles, and the sharp crack of sticks meeting in the neutral zone. Then a Montreal winger breaks free, carries it up the wing, and the Ottawa defenceman closes him down with a check that echoes off the rafters. The crowd—scattered, but loud—roars. Somewhere in the third row, a fan in a faded 1954 Senators jersey stands up, not quite cheering, not quite booing, just *there*, watching the old war continue on the ice like it never stopped.

Reader's Guide

The Ottawa–Montreal rivalry originates in the 1880s, when clubs from both cities met in the ECA and early Stanley Cup challenges. The Ontario–Quebec provincial divide gave every contest a cultural weight beyond the scoreline, and by the time the NHL launched in 1917 with the original Senators as a founding member, the feud was already decades old.

Key incidents that fuelled tension include the back-and-forth Stanley Cup battles of the 1920s and 1930s, the Canadiens' long dynasty that defined the sport for a generation while Ottawa sat out the league from 1934 to 1937 and again after 1954, and the 1992 expansion return that re-ignited a rivalry many feared was lost. Each era added layers: the original Senators' 16 Stanley Cups gave Ottawa a legacy of excellence, while Montreal's 24 Cups made them the league's most decorated franchise.

Statistically, the head-to-head record across 140+ years is a deep well, but the true measure is cultural. These games shape both teams' identities: Ottawa's as the underdog with a proud past, Montreal's as the standard-bearer carrying the weight of a century of expectation. In a league of 32 teams, this is the one rivalry that predates the league itself, and that makes every faceoff feel like a continuation of a conversation that started before the NHL had a name.

Did You Know?

• The rivalry predates the NHL by over three decades; Ottawa and Montreal clubs were competing in the ECA and Stanley Cup challenges in the 1880s and 1890s.
• The original Ottawa Senators were a founding member of the NHL in 1917, making them one of the league's oldest franchises.
• The Montreal Canadiens' 24 Stanley Cups make them the most decorated franchise in NHL history, a record that anchors the rivalry's one-sided narrative.
• The modern Ottawa Senators joined the NHL in 1992 as an expansion team, rekindling a rivalry that had been dormant since the original club's final season in 1953–54.