Canadiens hand Senators stunning OT loss: ‘I don’t even know what to say’

Montreal scored three straight goals, including Cole Caufield‘s second of the game 33 seconds into overtime, to give the Canadiens a 6-5 come-from-behind win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

The division rival matchup gave fans from both teams plenty to cheer about.

Trailing 5-3 late in the third period, Montreal pulled goaltender Samuel Montembeault and got within one with 4:40 remaining when Juraj Slafkovsky tipped a Lane Hutson shot for his second goal of the game. Alexandre Carrier tied it 65 seconds later when he beat Leevi Merilainen glove side.

Jake Sanderson, who also had three assists, had given the Senators what appeared to be insurance when he scored his 10th at 7:55 of the third, beating Montembeault short side to give the Senators a 5-3 lead.

“Very frustrating. We played a great 56 minutes,” Sanderson told reporters after the loss. “Maybe we were on our heels. We knew they were going to push. … It’s a handful of things, you know. You’ve got to block a shot, you’ve got to get the puck out. It’s on everybody on the ice.”

Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Dylan Cozens and David Perron also scored for the Senators (22-19-6). Merilainen stopped 13 shots.

Josh Anderson also scored for the Canadiens (27-15-7).

The Senators started the second period with a two-man advantage. Tkachuk scored his 10th of the season just 42 seconds in. Ottawa tied it 2-2 on an incredible solo effort by Stutzle who dropped it back between his legs and backhanded it upstairs over Montembeault.

The Canadiens regained the lead when Anderson beat Merilainen blocker side, but Ottawa tied it back up. On the power play Stutzle found Cozens in the slot and he wristed a shot through traffic.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Stutzle said. “Felt like we played a really good game. You score five, you should be able to win.

“Leevi has been playing great. He’s been playing a lot of hockey. It’s always like, anytime somebody scores, everybody blames the goalie, but we have his back. We’ve got to play better in front of him.”

With 1:36 remaining in the second, Artem Zub fired a shot from just inside the blue line and it went off Perron’s skate in the crease to give Ottawa its first lead.

Montreal took a 2-0 lead after the first.

“We’ve got to play more mature,” Sanderson said. “We showed it when we go down two early after the first. We were resilient, we came back, we fought. (Had) a great 15 minutes in the third.”

The Canadiens opened the scoring on the power play when Caufield found Slafkovsky at the edge of the circle and ripped a shot high glove side.

Montreal had a goal called back midway through the period but got it back late in the period, on the power play again, when Nick Suzuki won a puck battle along the boards and fed Caufield who wristed a shot past Merilainen.

Merilainen, who stopped 13 of 19 shots, has been part of a Senators tandem that’s underwhelmed this season.

“It’s hard to give him a pass,” head coach Travis Green said of his goaltender. “Six goals on (19) shots, I’m sure he’d like to have one or two back. I feel bad for him.”

“Leevi made some good saves, but at the end of the day you have to make more than 10 saves to win a game,” Sanderson added.