Canadiens score four in third to beat Senators
MONTREAL — A controversial no-goal call in the third period helped spark the Montreal Canadiens’ come-from-behind victory over Ottawa.
Montreal scored four goals in the third to beat the Senators 5-2 on Saturday night for its fifth win in six games despite having another one disallowed earlier in the period.
With the game tied 2-2, it appeared the Canadiens had taken the lead when Phillip Danault redirected the puck behind goalie Mike McKenna, but the goal was waived off when the referees called an embellishment penalty on Artturi Lehkonen, who passed the puck to Danault while falling to the ice on a hook by Thomas Chabot.
Both Lehkonen and Chabot went to the box and the game stayed tied.
“We were a little upset and we transferred that energy the right way, actually,” said captain Shea Weber. “It was a good reaction. Guys were really upset. We thought we deserved a goal there. But we did the right things and came back and played the right way.”
After the disallowed goal, a loud chorus of boos rained down on the Senators, and referees, for the rest of the period.
“They were fired up and we were fired up,” said Weber of the Bell Centre crowd. “It was a good intensity and energy for everyone. It was definitely loud.”
Those boos turned into deafening cheers when Weber scored the game winner at 10:06, a powerful snap shot from the left faceoff dot for his fourth goal of the season.
Paul Byron made it 4-2 at 13:37 when he redirected Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s shot past McKenna. Jonathan Drouin sealed it with an empty-netter at 17:31.
“We were all upset,” said Claude Julien, who earned his 600th career victory. “You can disagree with bad calls. I consider that one a mistake more than a bad call. I wish they would have gotten together and overruled that. It would have made sense.
“After that, we played our best hockey of the night.”
Montreal (17-11-5) has defeated Ottawa (14-16-4) three times in the past 12 days.