OTTAWA – Shane Pinto scored twice as the Ottawa Senators prevented the Montreal Canadiens from clinching a playoff spot with a 5-2 win on Friday night.
Ridly Greig added a goal and an assist while Drake Batherson and Dylan Cozens also scored for Ottawa (43-30-6), which secured a playoff berth earlier this week.
Linus Ullmark made 20 saves and Michael Amadio pitched in with two assists.
Nick Suzuki and Christian Dvorak replied for Montreal (39-31-9), and Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots.
The Canadiens, who hold the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, needed a regulation win to officially capture a playoff spot but came up short. They have three games remaining in the regular season.
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The Senators avoided a season sweep at the hands of the Canadiens, who were riding a six-game win streak.
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Ottawa jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the game was five minutes old with goals from Pinto and Cozens.
The Senators wasted no time extending their advantage in the second period as Greig tapped in a nice feed from Amadio just 65 seconds in.
Montreal responded quickly with Dvorak capitalizing just over a minute later for his 12th of the season.
Batherson restored Ottawa’s three-goal cushion, redirecting a Thomas Chabot point shot to make it 4-1, before Suzuki slipped a goal past Ullmark.
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The Senators netminder was solid despite the Canadiens pressing in the third period. Pinto iced the game with an empty-net goal.
Takeaways
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Senators: Got off to a solid start and didn’t let up.
Canadiens: Struggled to catch up after falling behind early.
Key moment
Ottawa held Montreal to just four shots in the third period.
Key stat
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Jake Sanderson picked up his 100th career NHL assist with a helper on Ottawa’s third goal. Chabot reached 300 career points with an assist on the Senators’ fourth goal.
Up next
Senators: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday afternoon.
Canadiens: Take on the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Saturday night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2024.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
