MONTREAL (AP) - A no-goal call in the third period fueled the Montreal Canadiens to a comeback victory over the Ottawa Senators.
Shea Weber scored the tiebreaking goal in Montreal’s four-goal third period and the Canadiens rallied for 5-2 win over Ottawa on Saturday night, beating the Senators for the third time in 12 days.
After Montreal’s Jesperi Kotkaniemi tied the score 2-2 at 2:06 of the third, the Canadiens appeared to take the lead less than 90 seconds later when Phillip Danault put the puck behind Senators goalie Mike McKenna. However, the goal was waved off after Artturi Lehkonen was called for embellishment seconds before.
“We were a little upset and we transferred that energy the right way actually,” Weber said. “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,” Weber said of the Bell Centre crowd. “It was a good intensity and energy for everyone. It was definitely loud.”
Montreal then scored three times in a 7 1/2-minute stretch later in the period to get the win.
Kotkaniemi and Matthew Peca each had a goal and an assist, and Paul Byron and Jonathan Drouin also scored for the Canadiens. Carey Price stopped 16 shots to win his fifth straight.
Weber put the Canadiens ahead just past the midpoint of the period with aa powerful snap shot from the left faceoff dot for his fourth.
Byron made it 4-2 with 6 1/2 minutes left when he redirected Kotkaniemi’s shot past McKenna. Drouin sealed it with an empty-netter nearly four minutes later.
“We were all upset,” said Canadiens coach 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. It woke us up.”
Each of Montreal’s recent wins against Ottawa have been by identical 5-2 scores.
Colin White and Mikkel Boedker scored for the Senators, who were coming off a 4-2 win against Detroit the previous night. The 35-year-old McKenna, starting in place of Craig Anderson. finished with 42 saves.
“Any time you allow four goals, you’re always searching for things you can do better,” said McKenna, a 2002 draft pick. “As a goalie, it doesn’t matter how many you faced it’s about how many you keep out of the net.”
The Canadiens outshot the Sens 16-3 in the second, 19-7 in the third and 47-18 overall.
“We let them come at us in waves and we didn’t have a match for their energy and the amount of pucks they put on the net,” Ottawa forward Bobby Ryan said. “We sat back a little too much. We were a stick length away all night.
“Sometimes you just have to be a little more aggressive. That’s on all of us.”
With his second goal in two games, Peca got the Canadiens on the scoreboard at 3:39 of the first.
Montreal’s lead was extremely short-lived, with White tying it 20 seconds later with his ninth. It came seconds after Brady Tkachuk appeared to trip Price with his stick, and the Canadiens challenged the goal for goaltender interference but the call on the ice stood.
Heavily outworked in the second, the Senators scored on their first shot of the period at 9:11. Confusion between Jordie Benn and Noah Juulsen behind their own net led to Boedker’s fourth.
NOTES: The Senators dropped to 2-4-1 in their past seven games. … Price improved to 25-9-5 all-time versus Ottawa. … Montreal went 0 for 4 on the power play and is now 0 for 22 with the man advantage over its last seven games.
UP NEXT
Senators: Host Nashville on Monday night.
Canadiens: Host Boston on Monday night.
___
More AP NHL: www.apnews.com/NHL and www.twitter.com/AP_Sports
Please read our comment policy before commenting.