NHL: Montreal Canadiens at Edmonton Oilers
Credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images

The Montreal Canadiens were in Ottawa to face the Senators on Saturday night, attempting to return to their winning ways in a classic Atlantic Division match-up.

Despite getting off to a solid start to the game, the Senators eventually took over, but it was not enough to prevent the Canadiens from tying things up late in the third period.

That’s when Montreal received more late-game heroics from the best goalscorer on the team, leading to an exciting 6-5 overtime win.

Let’s dive into the highlights!

Power In The Play

The Canadiens started the game on the right foot, capitalizing on an early powerplay to establish an important 1-0 lead. Juraj Slafkovsky, who continues to generate most of his offence on the powerplay, scored his 19th goal of the year following some excellent passing by Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

Caufield then proceeded to register his second powerplay point of the evening, scoring his 23rd goal of the season in the process.

As per tradition, both Suzuki and Lane Hutson directly participated in the play, which gave the Canadiens a 2-0 lead.

The Tides Turn

Special teams continued to play a crucial role in Saturday’s game, though it was the Senators who dominated with the man advantage in the second period.

Tim Stutzle’s 21st goal of the year didn’t just tie the game at 2-2, it was easily one of the nicest goal scoring plays of the season.

Mr. Anderson

Josh Anderson was caught cheating earlier in the period, leading to the 5v3 powerplay that put the Senators on the board, making his 11th goal of the season a redemption of sorts.

All things considered, Anderson has done a great job reinventing himself in recent seasons, but there’s still the odd bout of indiscipline that comes to the surface. That being said, he’s clearly not the only Canadiens player who shows the same type of discipline as a mouse in a cheese factory.

When The Other Shoe Drops

Most Canadiens fans will argue the referees were clearly working against the Habs on Saturday, and while there were a few questionable calls, and a few misses, it was far from the biggest issue facing Martin St-Louis’ team.

The Habs only managed to muster 10 shots on net in the first two periods of play, the perfect recipe for failure. The most frustrating aspect of the entire situation is that Senators netminder Leevi Meriläinen looked shaky all night long.

Any shot had the potential to beat him cleanly.

Unsurprisingly, the Senators took advantage of Montreal’s inertia, overcoming yet another deficit, and establishing their own one-goal lead in the process.

Late-Game Heroics

With the game all but done, the Canadiens finally decided to wake up to test Merilainen a little.

They ended up scoring goals on back-to-back shots, a good lesson moving forward for a club that shows too much hesitancy when they’re in a good shooting situation.

Speaking of good shooting situations, Caufield quickly ended the game in overtime, completing the impressive comeback for the Canadiens in the process, and securing the 6-5 win.

The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Tuesday, facing the Minnesota Wild at the Bell Centre. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm ET.

All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.

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By Marc Dumont
Marc has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for Journal Metro, The Athletic, The ... More about Marc Dumont

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