Filip Kuba lifts Ottawa Senators past Montreal Canadiens 3-2: NHL Update
Filip Kuba notched the game-winning goal in the extra-session and Craig Anderson saved 27 shots to help the Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2, at Scotiabank Place on Thursday
night.
Jason Spezza and Bobby Butler each also lit the lamp for Ottawa, which has won three of four games. This victory gave the the Senators 13th-place in the Eastern Conference with 74 points.
An excited Butler said after the game, “It was a great game, a lot of excitement in the stands, which is awesome, and it just feels great to get the win.”
Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri each scored a goal for the Canadiens, who failed to give the coach, Jacques Martin, his 600th career victory. The goalie, Alex Auld, surrendered
all three goals on 32 shots for Montreal, which had a two-game winning streak snapped.
Despite the defeat, the Canadiens pulled two points to get sixth –place in the Eastern Conference. Currently, Montreal has 94 points and sits two points ahead of the fifth-place Buffalo
Sabres.
Both teams failed to open the scoring in the first period.
After the scoreless opening period, the Canadiens got on the board in the 14th minute of the middle stanza. The goal came when Gionta whacked in a rebound off a shot from Mathieu Darche,
for his team-leading 27th goal of the season.
The Senators tied the game at 1-1 in less than a minute into the final period when Spezza chipped in a rebound off Butler’s shot. It was Spezza’s fourth goal in three contests.
Spezza praised fans that they were a great source of motivation. He said, “The fans have been great. They’ve kept great support, and we’ve wanted to play hard to show them that we’re a
better team than our record is.”
Butler gave Ottawa its first lead with less than two minutes to play in the third frame when he unleashed a wrist-shot past Auld to make it 2-1.
With Auld benched for an extra attacker, the Canadiens tied the game at 2-2 with less than a minute remaining in regulation. The game was set up by Andrei Kostitsyn, who sent a pass in
the right circle where Cammalleri banged the puck past Craig Anderson for his 19th goal of the season.
Cammalleri was disappointed with his side’s performance. He said, "We need to be a little sharper and a little more assertive in our game. To tie it up at the end was nice, but it was
maybe a bit of a mental let down after last game. We could've done a better job of that."
Kuba capped the scoring with a deciding-goal in the second minute of the overtime. The goal came when he blasted a shot from the right-point past Montreal's net-minder to snatch the win.
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