Montreal Canadiens left wing Max Pacioretty (67) celebrates a goal with centre Phillip Danault (24) during first period NHL hockey action against the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa on Monday Oct. 30, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
October 30, 2017 - 7:24 PM
OTTAWA - Charles Hudon scored his first two National Hockey League goals and added an assist as the Montreal Canadiens routed the Ottawa Senators 8-3 on Monday night.
Artturi Lehkonen also struck twice for the Canadiens (4-7-1), while Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Plekanec rounded out the attack.
Shea Weber tacked on three helpers and Al Montoya picked up his first win of the season by stopping 25 shots. It's first time this season that Montreal has won back-to-back games.
Tom Pyatt, Ryan Dzingel and Chris DiDomenico found the back of the net for Ottawa (5-2-5). Craig Anderson made just nine saves on 15 shots through two periods before being replaced by Mike Condon, who allowed two goals on 14 shots.
Perhaps most notable for the Senators was the fact that captain Erik Karlsson was on the ice for seven Montreal goals.
Hudon scored both his goals in the first as both teams combined for six goals in the period. The Habs entered the game as the lowest scoring team in the Eastern Conference.
Pyatt opened the scoring just 21 seconds in for the Senators, but Montreal replied at 4:27 as Hudon stepped around Karlsson to beat Anderson short side.
The Canadiens, shorthanded, made it 2-1 as Pacioretty stole the puck from Anderson behind the net to score into an empty net. Ottawa tied things back up as a Mike Hoffman's shot went in off Dzingel. The Canadiens went on to score twice more to lead 4-2 after 20 minutes.
The second was quieter until the halfway mark when DiDomenico scored his second in as many games as the Senators made it 4-3 with a power-play goal.
The Canadiens regained their two-goal cushion as Jordie Benn fed a beautiful pass to Galchenyuk for a breakaway and beat Anderson high. Gallagher made it 6-3 with less than a minute remaining in the period with his fourth of the season.
Condon started the third with his team trailing 6-3, but it didn't take long for the Canadiens to beat him. Plekanec scored short side at 5:10 and Lehkonen made it 8-3 midway through the period.
Notes: The Senators were without D Mark Borowiecki who was a late scratch as he wasn't feeling well, C Kyle Turris (Viral infection, day-to-day) and Bobby Ryan (broken finger, three weeks).
News from © The Canadian Press, 2017