Senators defeat Canadiens in shootout victory 

Brady Tkachuk scored twice, and Drake Batherson sent the fans home happy as the Senators defeated the Canadiens 5-4 in a shootout on Saturday night.

“We battled hard, and I think you have to give a lot of credit to our power play with three power play goals,” said interim head coach Jacques Martin. “But what I think is more significant is we stayed with it, and I thought we got stronger as the game went on.”

It was Montreal who scored first when Mike Matheson picked up the puck short-handed and scored an unassisted goal nine minutes into the first period.

Only four minutes later, Brady Tkachuk scored a power play goal with assists from Jake Sanderson and Claude Giroux.

Early in the second period, Montreal struck again when Cole Caufield scored just a minute and thirty-seven seconds into the frame.

The teams then exchanged power play goals, with Shane Pinto tying the game 2-2 and Caufield scoring his second of the period.

As the second period came to an end, Josh Anderson was called on a tripping charge to send the Senators to the power play to start the third period. Only 47 seconds into the period, Tkachuk scored his second power play goal of the game and 37th of the season.

The Senators fired 20 shots on goal in the third period, but it was Montreal who broke the stalemate when Alex Newhook scored with just under 5 minutes left in the game.

With Joonas Korpisalo on the bench for an extra attacker, Thomas Chabot glided in from the blueline and tipped home the game-tying goal.

Overtime solved nothing, sending the game to the shootout where Drake Batherson was the only player to score, giving the Senators a win in the final game of the 2023-24 season at Canadian Tire Centre.

“It’s always nice to win the last one at home in front of this awesome fan base,” said Tkachuk following the win. “Hopefully that left a little positivity and momentum going into next year.”

The Senators will head to New York for a game against the Rangers on Monday night before heading to Boston to close out the season.