Canadiens’ tenacity on display in victory over Senators ...Middle East

For more than 90 seconds of a critical, late-game power play, the Montreal Canadiens could not find their way.

In search of a go-ahead goal while playing the high-stakes hockey the team has yearned for, the Habs couldn’t find any semblance of flow against the Ottawa Senators. Not until the dying seconds of the man advantage did the Habs get a good look, as Emil Heinemen cracked a one-timer on goal that was stopped by Linus Ullmark. Just as the play seemed as though it would be blown dead, Brendan Gallagher found the still-loose puck in the shadow of Ullmark’s pad and slid it a couple feet to his left, where Nick Suzuki was waiting to slam it into an open cage.

Meaningful games can be messy, too. And on a night where the Canadiens were far from flawless, Suzuki’s scrambly goal — which came with two seconds remaining on the power play and 4:37 left in the third period at the Bell Centre — was a fitting way to deliver an unpolished victory that could not have been any more satisfying to the club than if it was a perfect gem.

“I just looked at the bench and (saw) them going nuts,” Josh Anderson told reporters in Montreal, describing the moment after he’d sealed this win by hitting an empty net with a shot from inside his own blue line. “I just wanted to celebrate with everybody. That was obviously a cool moment.”

Yes, five third-period goals en route to a 6-3 triumph has a way of getting the boys jumping. That’s especially true when there were several moments on Tuesday night when it appeared the surging Senators were likely to extend their winning streak to seven games, rather than have it halted by a Montreal club that now sits in the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot, four points behind Ottawa for the first wild-card entry. 

The Canadiens started off well thanks to a breakaway goal from Christian Dvorak that came just 2:07 into the first. But Ottawa tied the game later that period when the defence pair of Arber Xhekaj and David Savard backed right on top of Sam Montembeault during a 3-on-2, allowing Sens winger Drake Batherson to glide down main street and rip a shot past the goalie’s glove.

Ottawa took the lead for the first time in the second period during a stretch of four-on-four play that came about when Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky took an offensive-zone penalty while his squad was on the power play. 

And if Montembeault was a little spotty on that second tally — scored on a rebound by Michael Amadio after Montreal’s goalie couldn’t settle a point shot — it seemed the puckstopper might have really sunk his team when he surrendered a third-period stinker to Travis Hamonic that allowed Ottawa to regain the lead. The soft goal came less than three minutes after rookie Lane Hutson had darted down low and beaten Ullmark with a perfect shot to tie the game 2-2.

The Habs, however, wouldn’t go away. And the trio that came through for them is the third line that is suddenly providing the secondary scoring the squad so desperately needs. All three members of the unit — Anderson, Dvorak and Gallagher — made contributions on the play that led to the 3-3 equalizer. 

First, Gallagher got in on the forecheck, intercepted Hamonic’s clearing attempt and quickly moved it to Dvorak at the left dot. Rather than just whack the puck on goal from a relatively short distance, Dvorak swept it back to the opposite point, where Alexandre Carrier was waiting. Carrier settled the puck, took a couple quick steps and rifled it on goal. When the shot hit Anderson on the lip of the crease, the Canadiens winger was able to locate the puck before anyone else could and chipped it into the goal. 

Suzuki — and, really, the entire first line of Montreal’s captain between Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield — have been on fire since play resumed after the 4 Nations Face-Off. No. 14’s game-winner against Ottawa was his 18th point in 11 contests since the NHL picked back up following the February hiatus.

But to make this unlikely playoff dream a reality, the Canadiens are going to need more than one-line scoring and — with the second unit of Alex Newhook between Patrik Laine and young Joshua Roy not doing much of that at five-on-five just now — Dvorak and his linemates have really stepped up.

Tuesday’s win marked Dvorak’s second straight contest with a goal and his first career four-point game. Anderson had not buried two in a game for 15 months. Gallagher — who finished off the night with the team’s second ENG — notched his first three-point contest since April of 2024. 

The Canadiens have a league-best 8-1-2 record since the 4 Nations ended, including two 60-minute victories over Ottawa. Even the things that were out of Montreal’s control went its way on this evening, as both the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers — two squads in a battle with the Habs for the East’s final playoff berth — both lost in regulation time.

That left the Canadiens sitting all alone in the second wild card spot with 15 games to go in their season. To stay there, they’ll need more mistake-free minutes than they logged for much of the night versus Ottawa. 

The tenacity to stick with it and find a way when it counts, though, is clearly present.

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