Two goals scored midway through the second period were enough to sink the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Ottawa Thursday, as backup goaltender Robin Lehner turned back 33 of 34 Montreal shots for the victory.
The Canadiens took a lead midway through the first period when Andrei Markov scored his second of the season on the powerplay one-timer with Senator Marc Methot sitting in the penalty box. P.K. Subban and Tomas Plekanec both assisted on the goal.
But Bobby Ryan notched the score up just 28 seconds later with his ninth of the season as he roofed a nifty wrist shot past a heavily-screened Carey Price.
The Habs outshot the Senators 14-6 in the second frame but Marc Methot's marker and defenceman Mark Borwiecki’s first career goal 37 second apart midway through the frame gave the Senators what proved to be an insurmountable lead.
Methot scored after Andrei Markov tossed the puck onto his stick near the slot in a misconceived clearing attempt after Price made a nice stop.
Boroewicki scored on a wrist shot from the blueline that went past several Habs who appeared to have blocked their goaltender in their futile effort to block the shot.
The Senators then almost gave themselves a third quick goal as Chris Phillips hit the post a few seconds after the pair went in.
The Habs attempted to notch up the pressure in the third period but failed to get a puck past Lehner and the Senators iced the victory with an empty net goal off the stick of Kyle Turris at 18:51 of the third.
The Canadiens outshot the Senators 34 to 24 in a game which had more clutching, grabbing and cross-checking than seen in recent games. In spite of the apparent animosity apparent between the teams, no fights broke out and heavy bodychecks were few and far between.
P.K. Subban, who some had complained was not given enough ice time in Tuesday's loss against the Blues, was on the ice for 27:09, among his highest totals of the season as the Canadiens had seven powerplays in the game. Subban had nine shots on goal and was a minus one in the plus/minus statistics, while Francis Bouillon had a team-worst minus three.
Subban notched one assist for his 16th point of the season while Senator Erik Karlsson, who leads NHL defencemen with 17 points went without a point for the first time in six games.
The Canadiens were also penalized seven times as well, with four penalties going against Brendan Gallagher but the Habs killed them all off without ceding a goal.
The Habs fall to eighth place from sixth in the standings with the loss. The Canadiens have notched only one point of a possible eight in their most recent four game winless stretch.
