OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Max Domi had a pair of goals to help the Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators 3-0 on Saturday night.
Carey Price stopped 30 shots for his fourth shutout of the season, while Paul Byron also scored.
“I think we brought it for a full 60 minutes and in order to win in this league that’s what you’ve got to do,” Domi said. “Our whole group played great and we’ve got to regroup and get ready for the next one.”
Already playing without Tyler Ennis and Vladislav Namestnikov, both healthy scratches, the Senators (21-30-11) then lost Thomas Chabot midway through the first and struggled to create anything offensively.
Craig Anderson made 32 saves in defeat.
Holding a 3-0 lead to start the third the Canadiens tightened up defensively and kept the Senators to the outside. Price made a few big saves, including a glove save on Anthony Duclair to keep the Senators off the board.
An Ottawa turnover allowed Ilya Kovalchuk to find Byron all alone out front to beat Anderson at 17:58 of the second.
Domi scored twice to give the Canadiens a 2-0 first-period lead. He avoided Anderson’s poke check and then scored off his backhand to open the scoring just 1:13 into the game.
The Senators had a scary moment midway through the period when Chabot went down awkwardly after being checked into the boards by Brendan Gallagher. He struggled to get off the ice and went right to dressing room. Brady Tkachuk took exception to the hit and took on Gallagher.
“It’s a highly emotional game,” said Tkachuk. “Any game between us and Montreal is a pretty emotional, pretty physical game. I’m just going to leave it at that, but it’s a fun atmosphere to play in.”
During the TV timeout Chabot took a brief twirl on the ice, but would not return.
“First off we think (Chabot’s) all right,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. “It’s nothing major anyways. Certainly, couldn’t have played, but we’re hoping he’s back fairly quickly. It’s a huge loss for us, moving pucks as you saw and then you’re down to five guys early.
“There’s a lot of concern,” he added. “The way he’s played is outstanding here of late and the way he breaks the puck out and manages his ice time and all those things. The development issue of it is these games down the stretch are big for us, developing as a team and the way we want to play and without him certainly we take a hit there."
The Canadiens took a 2-0 lead shortly after as Domi took a bounce off the boards and one-timed it through Anderson’s legs.
NOTES:
Josh Norris made his NHL debut Saturday night with the Senators. ... Montreal’s Karl Alzner played his first NHL game since Jan. 10, 2019, after being recalled from Laval of the AHL.
UP NEXT
Canadiens: Host Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
Senators: At Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.
