Hours away from NHL teams submitting their 23-man rosters, a few young players and one veteran are forcing the coaching staff to make some tough decisions.

It was the final opportunity to make a lasting impression for players with an outside chance of making the Ottawa Senators’ NHL roster on Saturday.

In split-squad games with the Montreal Canadiens, the Senators’ ‘A’ squad won 4-3 at home, while their ‘B’ squad kept it close on the road in a 4-2 loss.

A litany of injuries — Shane Pinto, Artem Zub and Warren Foegele were kept out of action, while Jake Sanderson and Andre Burakovsky left the action midway Saturday — means there could very well be a number of spots open for Game 1 of the regular season in one week.

Paired with Sanderson until the star defencemen left in the second period, Hoyt Stanley held his own, to say the least. He looked comfortable handling the puck, not just simply handing it off to Sanderson every time there was an opportunity to rid himself of responsibility. Stanley was able to escape pressure with timely outlet passes, and he was able to skate out of trouble when necessary.

The 21-year-old, who is heading into his first full season of professional hockey, had a slow start to training camp, often behind the play in rookie tournament games two weeks ago, but he has rebounded considerably competing with true NHLers.

“(There’s) a couple young players that have kind of gotten better as camp’s gone on and he’s one of them,” coach Travis Green said post-game.

Stanley was unable to clear Brett Berard from the edge of the crease on the 1-0 goal, but it was truly a whacky bounce and one of the very few blemishes on his performance.

Stanley wasn’t afraid to tag onto rushes, once finding himself at the net front on a Michael Amadio slot shot in the first. He calmly accepted rims in both zones while under pressure, getting pucks to safety with quick passes to friendly jerseys.

Perhaps the structure of the pro game will fit his abilities better. It demands more from your hockey IQ. And hey, he went to Cornell.

Stanley didn’t play as much after Sanderson left the game, finishing with one block and a minus-2 rating in 13:48 of ice time.

“There’s learning curves for everybody,” defenceman Thomas Chabot said of Stanley, “but to see him through training camp step up and get the job done like that, I mean, all the credit to him. Hoyt, the way he’s been playing, I think everybody notices and it’s good for him. I think it won’t be long before we see him (in the NHL).”

The Senators were far more in control of this game than Wednesday’s chaotic 6-1 loss in Toronto, and that allowed Carter Yakemchuk to settle in much better.

His confidence was evident early, once looking off a Chabot one-timer option on a power play in the first and skating to the top of the slot for a wrister. He transported the puck through the neutral zone well, making sensible passes and more creative ones when offered a little more time and space.

Midway through the second period, he accepted a Burakovsky centring pass, shimmied ever so slightly to the middle of the ice to get a better angle, and ripped a wrist shot blocker side on Jakub Dobes to extend the lead to 3-1. He can still be a difference maker on offence, no doubt.

There were definitely fewer missed assignments on his part, but Yakemchuk still had moments in rushes and defensive zone scrambles where he seemed unsure of his positioning, looking around for an extra second or two for someone to cover. And no, that does not include the 3-on-1 he was left to defend that led to the Alex Belzile 3-2 goal.

Halliday lacked a little pop on Saturday, missing some physicality and feistiness in board battles. In his first shift in the second period, he lifted an opposing player’s stick to try and accept a stretch pass in stride, but the puck went the length of the ice and he stopped skating to try and beat out an icing. Green did not seem happy on the bench, seemingly motioning for the 24-year-old to not have given up on the play.

On a line with Claude Giroux and Michael Amadio, Halliday showed off his vision. Dealing with double coverage on the right wall in the third period, he found Amadio in open ice with a backhand pass for a chance in the slot. He finished with one hit and a minus-1 rating in 13:12 of ice time.

Presumably with a little help from the Ottawa Citizen bump, Tomasino got on the board in his last opportunity to impress before final cuts are made.

On a power play midway through the first, Tomasino got the puck down low, cut to the goal mouth and scored with a wrister over the glove of Jacob Fowler to make it 1-0.

Playing with Ridly Greig and Sammy Blais, Tomasino was difficult to handle in the cycle, spinning off opposing players and getting his head up quickly to find his linemates in soft areas. He fed Blais for a Grade A chance from behind the net in the second, and moments later made another shifty play from behind the goal to take the puck to the crease.

Tomasino had four shots and drew a hooking penalty. Only Greig played more than Tomasino’s 22:58.

Ben Hutton, currently on a professional tryout, is making a damn good case for a contract.

Wearing an ‘A’, he led an inexperienced blue line by example in Montreal, fully taking care of business in the defensive zone. He hounded puck carriers and gave extra shots to Habs in the corners. His puck retrieval was strong, turning up ice quickly and making crisp first passes.

The 33-year-old was one of the main reasons the Senators’ mostly-AHL team was able to stay in the game for so long. He even got in on the offence, once juking an opposing player at the point and skating in for a blast from the left circle.

Hutton has looked better as training camp has gone on; his first step was much improved on Saturday.

What a game from Tyler Boucher.

On a power play late in the first, Boucher got down on one knee to one-time a cross-ice pass from Xavier Bourgault off of the outstretched blocker of Fowler and in to give the Sens a 2-1 lead.

Playing with Ryan Suzuki and Kasper Halttunen, he was able to shake coverage and get himself lost on multiple rushes, once nearly scoring again on a jam play and another time receiving a pass as the high man on a 3-on-1 and taking Sam Montembault’s mask off with a point-blank wrister.

Boucher was buzzing for most of the night. He had a game-high five shots and two hits in 15:41 of ice time.