Senators top Canadiens in shootout, defeat them for 9th time in row

OTTAWA -- Thomas Chabot scored the tying goal with 1:05 left in the third period, and the Ottawa Senators defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in the shootout at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

“Always nice to win the last one at home for this awesome fan base, and it was a pretty entertaining game for them, too,” Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. “So, hopefully it left a little positivity and a little momentum going into next year.”

Chabot tipped a Drake Batherson point shot with Senators goalie Joonas Korpisalo pulled for the extra attacker, giving Ottawa its ninth straight win against Montreal.

“I think we played a great game overall,” Chabot said. “Power play did a great job and I think we just stuck to it and we put a lot of pucks on their goalie. You’ve got to give him credit. He made some big saves, made some big saves in overtime as well.”

Tkachuk had two goals and an assist, Jake Sanderson had three assists, and Batherson and Claude Giroux each had two assists for the Senators (36-40-4). Korpisalo made 21 saves, and Batherson scored the lone goal in the shootout.

“I thought we battled hard,” Ottawa interim coach Jacques Martin said. “Have to give a lot of credit to our power play; three power-play goals. But I think what’s more significant is we stayed with it. I thought we got stronger as the game went on.”

Cole Caufield scored twice, Alex Newhook and Mike Matheson each had a goal and an assist, and David Savard had two assists for the Canadiens (30-36-14). Cayden Primeau made 40 saves.

“They got all four [with us] a man down,” Primeau said. “Your goalie’s got to be your best penalty-killer, so I don’t feel good.”

Each team has been eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention.

“The fact that we’ve been in so many [close games] this year, those are reps you can’t buy,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “They’re real reps. Sometimes you’re up protecting a lead, you’re trying to crawl back, you’re trying to get back in the game. Obviously, the overtimes and the shootouts, they are what they are, but I think as we keep progressing, we’ll find ourselves on the other side of them.”

Matheson scored short-handed to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 9:11 of the first period. Jake Evans forced a turnover at the Montreal blue line, and Matheson picked up the puck, skated in on a breakaway and finished a deke on the forehand past Korpisalo.

Tkachuk tied it 1-1 on the power play at 13:08 when he redirected a Sanderson point shot to himself and tucked it in around Primeau. It was Tkachuk’s 36th goal of the season, setting an NHL career high.

“I mean, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really mean much,” Tkachuk said of his personal success. “Like I said this morning, it wasn’t individual goals this year, it was more team goals, and unfortunately we didn’t hit them and I think there’s a lot of lessons to be learned this year.”

Caufield put the Canadiens back in front 2-1 at 1:37 of the second period when he stuffed a rebound under Korpisalo’s outstretched left pad.

“I thought we played a pretty good game,” Caufield said. “Obviously we gave ourselves a couple leads. Just a tough 6-on-5 goal. Battled to the end, I thought, and just a tough result."

Shane Pinto tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 8:36, one-timing a centering pass from Giroux in the slot.

Montreal took a 3-2 lead on the power play at 13:05. Caufield scored with a wrist shot over Korpisalo’s blocker from the right face-off circle, setting an NHL career high with his 27th goal.

“He’s getting to the areas to score,” Newhook said of Caufield. “He scores one in the paint tonight. I think he’s got that touch to kind of score from anywhere and it’s showing recently. I think it’s just a bit more confidence, but he’s always got that confident shot and it was a matter of time before he started to get hot, I think.”

Tkachuk tied it 3-3 on the power play with his 37th goal at 47 seconds of the third period, taking a pass down low and finishing with a backhand to the glove side.

Newhook put Montreal back in front 4-3 at 15:49 when his centering pass went in off Ottawa defenseman Jakob Chychrun’s skate in the crease.

“Another tight one,” Newhook said of the result. “I think we’re finding ways to stay in games, stay there at the end, but just a little bit of execution, giving them a 6-on-5 goal. It happens. I think some of those smaller details are what it comes down to when you’re not on the right side of these close games. Just stuff I think we can tidy up here moving into next year.”

It was likely Martin’s final home game as Ottawa coach, as the Senators will search for a permanent replacement during the offseason. The 71-year-old, who replaced D.J. Smith on Dec. 18, also coached the Senators from 1996-2004 and holds franchise records for games coached (746) and wins (366).

“It’s been great,” Martin said. “I enjoyed the opportunity to come back and hopefully help the team understand what it takes to be in the playoffs, how you need to play on a nightly basis, help the players grow and maybe get better. As an organization I think we have some work to do, but I think we’re in the right direction.”

NOTES: Matheson became the ninth defenseman in Canadiens history to score multiple short-handed goals in a season. … Caufield scored 26 goals last season. … The Senators tied their longest winning streak against one opponent. They won nine in a row against the Buffalo Sabres from Feb. 6, 2009, to March 26, 2010. … Tkachuk set his previous career high in goals last season. He tied his franchise record with 12 shots on goal Saturday. ... Tkachuk and Montreal forward Josh Anderson each had a game-high eight hits.