Montreal Canadiens thrash Ottawa Senators 7-1
Tomas Plekanec lit the lamp twice, as the Montreal Canadiens hammered the Ottawa Senators 7-1, at Scotiabank Place on Friday night.
Andrei Kostitsyn and Max Pacioretty each scored a goal and earned an assist for Montreal, who moved a point ahead of the New York Rangers into sixth position in the Eastern Conference.
Brian Gionta and P.K. Subban also found the net, while Carey Price turned aside 33 shots for the Canadiens, who have won three of their previous four contests. Benoit Pouliot tallied another goal for the victors.
Chris Kelly netted the lone goal for the struggling Ottawa Senators, who have lost five consecutive games and 11 of their last 12 play-offs. Mike Brodeur was charged for four goals on 15 shots before being pulled. Brian Elliott gave up three goals on 20 shots in the rest of the play.
A disappointed Senators Coach Cory Coulston outlined the reasons for his side’s loss after the game. He said, "We had two turnovers that led to goals and the third and fourth goal killed us. We had nothing going from that point on. We have to start from scratch if we want to get things going."
The Canadiens opened the scoring just two minutes into the first period. Pouliot was sprung on a breakaway by Mathieu Darche and he ripped a wrist shot into the right corner of the net.
Two minutes later, Montreal managed to double their advantage. It started when Kostitsyn caused a turnover deep at the left side of the Senators zone, and then threw a quick pass to the slot, where Plekanec chipped it into the net.
The Senators got on the board for the first and last time in the game, and cut the deficit in half at 2-1 midway through the first period. The move started when the Senators won a right circle face-off. Zack Smith slipped a pass from the slot over to the left circle for Chris Campoli, who redirected it back over to the right, where Kelly easily tapped the puck home.
Montreal took command of the game in the middle period with a three-goal frame.
The Canadiens made it a 3-1 game just 70 seconds into the second period. The goal came when Pacioretty controlled the puck along the boards on the left side and flipped it down low. Scott Gomez grabbed the puck to the left of the net, and quickly tossed it out in front of the net, where Gionta knocked it home.
Pacioretty then put Montreal 4-1 ahead just over four minutes later, as he rushed on a power-play and fired a shot from the low left circle that squeezed past Brodeur.
Brodeur was pulled after this goal and was replaced in net by Elliott.
Montreal then extended their lead to four goals to 5-1 with eight and a half minutes left in the middle session. Plekanec blasted a wrist shot on a breakaway for his second goal of the game and 16th of the season.
Kostitsyn increased the lead to 6-1 just over two minutes into the final period, while Subban accounted for the final goal of the game on a power-play with seven minutes left to cap the rout at 7-1.
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