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      Recap: Canadiens @ Senators 1.18.24

      OTTAWA -- Tim Stützle had a goal and two assists for the Ottawa Senators in a 6-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

      “I haven’t been playing the way I want to play. The last three games, I think I’ve got my confidence back,” Stutzle said. “I think the whole group, I mean, we’re getting pucks to the net, we’ve got guys on the goalie and it makes the job easier.”

      Stutzle has seven points (one goal, six assists) in the past three games after just one assist in his previous seven.

      “I think he’s been going in the right direction,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said of Stutzle. “He’s got great skill. I think he’s an elite player, I think just sometimes he struggles with, he puts a lot of pressure on himself, and [success] is not always measured by your production. A lot of times players have the tendency to look at production, and when you don’t produce, sometimes that weighs on you. We’ve had some conversations. I think we’re trying to [get] him more of a 200-foot game because I think he’s got great speed, he’s got great reads and so on. Points will come.”

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          MTL@OTT: Stützle goes blocker side in 1st period

          Brady Tkachuk and Parker Kelly each had a goal and an assist, Artem Zub had two assists, and Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves for the Senators (16-24-0), who have won two of their past three games after a five-game losing streak.

          “Of course, it’s easy to get up for these types of games in this rivalry,” said Tkachuk, the Ottawa captain. “We needed an epic performance tonight, and a lot of guys stepped up.”

          Cole Caufield and Michael Pezzetta scored, and Cayden Primeau made 31 saves for the Canadiens (19-19-7).

          “It’s definitely frustrating,” Pezzetta said. “We have a pretty solid rivalry against these guys now and I know there’s a lot of bad blood between us, and it just [stinks] coming out like that in a game like that."

          Montreal, which won 3-2 against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, is 1-8-0 in the second half of back-to-backs this season.

          “It’s not that we came out flat,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “Honestly, I would say the first four, five minutes were good, and if we had been a bit more opportunistic it might have been a different game. But after that it got a little harder. We lacked execution, especially in the second, and there were a lot of turnovers. It’s six games in 11 days and a back-to-back, and we’ve been playing good hockey, but tonight there was a little something missing.”

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              MTL@OTT: Tkachuk finishes Greig's pass for lead in 1st period

              Tkachuk gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 8:40 of the first period when he beat Primeau with a wrist shot from the right circle just eight seconds after Canadiens forward Sean Monahan hit the crossbar at the other end.

              Stutzle elected to shoot on a 2-on-1 rush and scored with a wrist shot to make it 2-0 at 11:07. It was his first goal in 11 games.

              “Everybody knows how good of a player he is, and hey, he’s got a target on his back every single day,” Tkachuk said of Stutzle. “Every game guys are trying to get him off his game, but I think tonight he showed his maturity, that it doesn’t matter, he’s just going to keep playing until the very end. He made some unbelievable plays tonight.”

              Caufield’s wrist shot from the slot hit Korpisalo’s glove and rolled over the goal line to cut it to 2-1 at 13:25. It was Caufield’s fourth goal in as many games.

              “We’ve had a tough schedule here,” Caufield said. “These games, you’ve got to use your brain a little more and trust your mind. But obviously, it’s tough going down early. We were in it for a while, and a tough second period, but again, playing back to back is tough. At the end of the day, the league doesn’t care and we’ve got to be ready for those things.”

              Rourke Chartier put in a rebound off Kelly’s shot from the right point to make it 3-1 at 9:51 of the second period.

              Vladimir Tarasenko took a cross-ice pass from Tkachuk on a 3-on-2 rush and scored with a wrist shot over Primeau’s glove to extend the lead to 4-1 at 18:54.

              “I thought it was a really good effort for 60 minutes,” Martin said. “I thought we played on our toes. What I like is, the last couple of games, I like the amount of time we’re spending in the offensive zone. I think that’s a good sign. … I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

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                  MTL@OTT: Tarasenko increases lead late in 2nd period

                  The Senators appeared to make it 5-1 when Claude Giroux put the puck into an open net at 19:45, but the Canadiens challenged for goalie interference and the goal was overturned.

                  Mathieu Joseph gave Ottawa a 5-1 lead at 1:41 of the third period. Stutzle deked David Savard in the slot and fed a behind-the-back pass to Joseph, who scored on a one-timer.

                  “It was elite,” Joseph said of Stutzle’s play. “I mean, not a lot of guys can just do that at full speed. I didn’t have to do much, I had a yawning cage there, wide open.”

                  Kelly scored an empty-net goal at 12:26 to make it 6-1.

                  “I think our little details weren’t as sharp as they have been lately,” Montreal captain Nick Suzuki said. “They have a lot of skill and if your details aren’t sharp, they’re going to take advantage of it and they did, and we just dug ourselves too big of a hole.”

                  Pezzetta scored with a wrist shot from the slot for the 6-2 final at 15:16.

                  “I think we played as a group today,” Joseph said. “We weren’t hesitating with shooting the puck, we were talking in the [defensive] zone. We obviously have some stuff to improve, but I think in general our execution was much better. We were better without the puck and that’s what you have to do to win games in this league. A lot of blocked shots as well, and big saves by our goalie.”

                  NOTES: Stutzle recorded his 19th three-point game, most by a Senators skater before turning 23. … Martin took sole possession of 20th on the NHL’s all-time list with his 618th win. … Tkachuk has seven points (two goals, five assists) during a three-game point streak. … With his 311th point, Tkachuk moved into a tie with Mark Stone for 10th on the Senators’ all-time list.