About Last Night: Senators get revenge on Habs with 6-3 win – Montreal Gazette

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A promising week ended with an emphatic thud Saturday night at the Bell Centre, where the Canadiens lost 6-3 to the Ottawa Senators.

Following a listless effort on Thursday that drew criticism from coach D.J. Smith, the young Senators lineup responded to the 4-1 loss with a physical, more aggressive tone, set 42 seconds into the contest when Brady Tkachuk opening scoring on the powerplay. Like a younger Corey Perry, Tkachuk has a fondness for parking himself in front of opposing goalies, and in this instance, spun around and shot the puck just out of goalie Carey Price’s reach.

Like the motivated Senators, the Canadiens also looked like a different team compared to their Thursday selves. Unfortunately for them, that meant swapping an airtight team game for defensive zone sloppiness. The biggest culprits? The typically sound Jeff Petry-Brett Kulak pairing was a combined minus-7 on the night, with Petry in particular a minus-5, meaning he was on the ice for all five even-strength/shorthanded goals on the night. Even Norris candidates have off-nights: if Thomas Chabot could be minus-3 on Thursday, Petry’s also not immune to the occasional struggle.

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Forward Tyler Toffoli, back after missing three games with a lower-body injury, connected on a one-timer pass from Nick Suzuki to tie the game at one. The Senators regained the lead shorthanded when Connor Brown and Nick Paul were given multiple chances to convert on Carey Price. Captain Shea Weber had an entertaining first period. After wiring a slap shot from the top of the circle recorded at 110 mp/h, the 35-year-old dropped the gloves with the 21-year-old Tkachuk. Earlier in the season, Weber chipped one of Tkachuk’s teeth, and it’s clear the two have developed a contentious relationship on the ice.

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Josh Anderson opened scoring in a busy second period. After Victor Mete made a strong play to keep the puck in the offensive zone, Jesperi Kotkaniemi connected with his new linemate, who roofed it past Sens netminder Anton Forsberg to tie the game 2-2. It didn’t last long: Evgenii Dadonov scored less than a minute later on a tip at his torso to make it 3-2.

Later in the second, a wide open Dadonov extended the lead to two when he fired home an Artem Anisimov pass. Not to be outdone, Josh Anderson also scored twice in the period, closing out the second by beating Forsberg in a pretty similar spot to his first one. Anderson was billed as a goals-in-bunches kind of scorer, and so far he’s living up to that billing as a Hab: after scoring nine in his first 13 games, he only produced two in his next 16. The Habs will hope he’s due for another torrid stretch.

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Also in the second, Brendan Gallagher went for a hit on Tim Stützle and immediately left for the dressing room hunched over. Habs fans breathed a sigh of relief when Gallagher returned for the opening of the third period.

Only down a goal, the Canadiens remained in striking distance of Ottawa, but the team that smothered the Oilers and Senators earlier this week didn’t emerge from the dressing room. Alex Formenton swiped the puck from Jeff Petry and then tipped a shot from Anisimov to give the Senators a 5-3 lead. With the goalie pulled at a little over three minutes remaining, Drake Batherson put the game out of reach with an empty-netter. The highlight of the third period was when they played DMX at the arena.

When your starting goalie has an .839 save percentage, it’s a bad night. When your $10.5M-per-season franchise goalie has an .839 save percentage, it’s pandemonium in the Habs liveblog comments section. The Weber-Tkachuk fight had nothing on the blows being delivered by the commenters. Some blamed the goalie, others felt the entire team delivered a lacklustre performance. The only thing that’s certain: the Habs return to action Monday night against the Edmonton Oilers. Eric Staal is expected to dress. Here are the three comment stars (the PG version, anyway):

3. “Was listening to the Rocket’s game last night hand the announcers were talking about the Gordie Howe Hat Trick. I thought it was named after him because he had done if often. Turns out that in over 1700 games, he only did it once. But apparently, he was the first.” -Marc Taillefer (He did it twice, apparently.) 2. “We are dreadful in our own end. All the bad habits re-emerging tonight.” -Derek Stevens 1. “5 goals to the Sens on 24 shots. I see we’ve used up our “rest” and gone back to underperform mode.” -Justin Miller