One of the coldest teams in the NHL defeated one of the hottest teams on Thursday night when the Ottawa Senators handed the Canadiens a 3-2 loss in Montreal.
Ottawa ended an nine-game losing streak.
Tim Stutzle had three points on the night for the Sens with a goal and two assists.
“I think everybody worked so hard for that today,” Stutzle said. “And everybody really wanted to win tonight against a very, very good team and first in our division. So it was a very important game today, and everybody played a great game.”
Matt Murray made 36 saves for the win.
“I came into this game wanting to get a win and get off this skid we were on,” Murray said. “I just felt like as a team, the way these games have been going for us, it’s really frustrating and it’s not a lack of effort. We’re trying our best every night. It just seemed like we were fighting against everything. It felt good to get off that streak, and this will propel us in the right direction.”
Brendan Gallagher scored for the Habs, and Josh Anderson potted a late shorthanded goal to make it close with less than two minutes left in regulation.
“They played a lot better than us,” Montreal’s Nick Suzuki said. “They were hard on the forecheck, and it didn’t look like we were prepared for that. I struggled breaking out of our zone and through the neutral zone, and they did a pretty good job of forechecking us. So as a team it’s got to be a lot better Saturday.”
Thomas Chabot and Connor Brown scored for the Senators.
“With every shift, every game I play, I get more confidence to make plays,” Stutzle said. “And right now, after the win, it’s definitely a great feeling.”
Carey Price made 19 saves in the loss.
“They definitely played pretty solid for the first two periods,” Price said. “I just thought it took us a little while to get our legs under us. We carried the majority of the play in the third and we just came up a little bit short.”
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