Cole Caufield’s OT goal propels Canadiens past Senators

Cole Caufield scored his second goal of the game, a slapshot off an assist from Lane Hutson, 33 seconds into overtime, to give the Montreal Canadiens a 6-5 victory over the host Ottawa Senators.

Caufield's winning tally completed a furious rally for Montreal, which trailed by two goals with less than five minutes to play in regulation.

Juraj Slafkovsky, who also had two goals, and Alexandre Carrier scored 1:05 apart late in the third period to even the game as Montreal ended a brief two-game losing streak and improved to 2-2-1 in its last five games.

Jake Sanderson scored one goal and assisted on three others to lead the Senators, who lost for the first time in three games, but fell to 2-4-1 in their last seven. Ottawa, which scored the first six goals in an 8-4 triumph over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night, trailed by two goals after one.

It was the Canadiens who got off to a strong start as Slafkovsky got Montreal on the board just 3:06 into the game with a power play goal off assists from Caufield and Nick Suzuki.

Caufield doubled Montreal's advantage late in the period after Suzuki recovered a lost puck just inside the zone on another power play opportunity. He sent it down the left side to Caufield, who deftly finished between the legs of Senators goaltender Leevi Merilainen, who allowed six goals on just 19 shots.

It was the second straight game in which Caufield had at least one goal and one assist. He leads the team with 24 goals. Hutson had three assists and Suzuki, the Canadiens' points leader, had two.

Ottawa scored four second-period goals, starting quickly on a two-man advantage in the opening minute. Claude Giroux controlled the puck after Montreal goaltender Sam Montembeault's initial save of Jake Sanderson's shot and fed Brady Tkachuk, who put the Senators on the board.

Tim Stutzle, who had a goal and an assist, Dylan Cozens, and David Perron added tallies for Ottawa in the period, while Josh Anderson scored the lone goal in the period for Montreal.

Sanderson's goal, which came with 7:55 gone in the third period, gave Ottawa a 5-3 advantage that lasted until Slafkovsky and Carrier's late responses.

Montembeault made 29 saves for the Canadiens to improve to 9-6-2. He has gone 4-0-1 in his last five starts.