Senators top Canadiens with 3-goal outburst in 3rd period

After a difficult 4-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday, the Ottawa Senators saved their best for last in Montreal.

Derick Brassard scored one goal and added an assist. Shane Pinto, Austin Watson, Jake Sanderson and Julien Gauthier added goals for Ottawa (28-26-4) as they swept their four-game season series with the Habs.

"Sometimes you're a little tired mentally on the back-to-back and you gotta reset, but that's why there's three periods," said Mathieu Joseph of the Senators. "I thought we had a good talk in the third, we showed up and the boys delivered."

Mads Sogaard made 29 saves and collected his first career assist as the Sens snapped a two-game losing skid.

WATCH | Gauthier ices game:

Gauthier's 1st goal with Senators seals victory over Canadiens

2 years ago

Duration 1:00

Ottawa defeats Montreal 5-2 with three goals in the third period. Julien Gauthier, who was recently acquired in a trade with the Rangers, seals the win with his first goal with the Senators.

"He was great," said Senators coach D.J. Smith. "We shouldn't have given him that many opportunities, but in saying that, that's why you have a goalie. And clearly, he's calm and he's doing his thing."

Ottawa can also thank their depth scoring. In the three previous games against Montreal, the top six of Pinto, Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Claude Giroux, Alex DeBrincat and Drake Batherson scored 11 of their 13 goals. On Saturday, Ottawa's bottom-six collected three of the five goals.

"We haven't had a ton of it," Smith said. "Watson gets one tonight, [Michael Pezzetta] comes out to get him in a fight, takes care of that and he scores, that's clearly a big difference for us.

"[Brassard] scored and then Gauthier gets one. We haven't had a ton of that and that's what teams need this time of year."

'I liked our game but I didn't like the result'

Nick Suzuki of the Canadiens reached the 20-goal mark for the second time of his career. Mike Matheson added a goal as Montreal (25-29-4) had their two-game win streak snapped.

Sam Montembeault made 17 saves.

"I liked our game but I didn't like the result," said Habs coach Martin St. Louis. "It just kind of got away from us in the third. Not so much structurally, just missed assignments.

"First two periods, I thought we were outplaying them so obviously it wasn't a 5-2 game."

Matheson pierced the offensive zone from his own blue line and grabbed his own rebound before levelling the score with his fourth goal of the season.

Montreal took its first lead of the night at 8:46 when Johnathan Kovacevic's stretch pass created a breakaway for Suzuki. The captain waited for Sogaard to make the first move then beat the Ottawa netminder.

DeBrincat missed a backhand shot from point-blank range but redeemed himself by finding Pinto in front of the net with a centring pass. The 22-year-old tapped the puck in to tie the game 2-2.

The Senators regained the lead with two goals early in the final frame. After fighting Pezzetta in the first period, Austin Watson redirected Travis Hamonic's shot from the point.

Batherson then added Ottawa's fourth goal 47 seconds later by using Jordan Harris as a screen for his wrister from the high slot.

Ottawa sealed the win at 11:57 when Pointe-Aux-Trembles, Que., native Gauthier beat Montembeault to score his first as a Sen with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.

"I did score a few against him in juniors," Gauthier said with a grin. "Samuel is doing a great job with the Canadiens right now. I just saw a good angle, had a good shot and got in."

The Canadiens visit the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.

The Senators will host the Detroit Red Wings on Monday.

Xhekaj to undergo season-ending surgery

The Canadiens announced that defenceman Arber Xhekaj will undergo season-ending right shoulder surgery. The surgery will be performed by Dr. Peter Millet, the same surgeon who performed Cole Caufield's shoulder surgery on Feb. 1.

The Canadiens also announced that defenceman Joel Edmundson will travel with the team for their four-game western road trip. He is expected at practice on Monday.

Forwards Kirby Dach and Joel Armia will not be travelling with the team.