Ottawa Senators Lose to Montreal Canadiens 2-1 In OT

The Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators, 2-1, on April 19 behind Dale Weise’s overtime goal to give his team a commanding 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference Stanley Cup Playoff series.

The Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators, 2-1, in overtime in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference Stanley Cup Playoff series on April 19. 

According to a game recap on NHL.com, Montreal right wing Dale Weise scored both of the Canadiens’ goals. His second one, a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle, came at the 8:47 mark of overtime to propel his team to a commanding 3-0 series lead. 

Weise tied things up at 1 apiece with 5:47 left in regulation after Senators goaltender Craig Anderson re-directed Brandon Purst’s shot. Ottawa led for the majority of the game after Clarke MacArthur’s first-period goal, eventually but lost due to Weise’s end-game heroics, per NHL.com.

WIN! The Canadiens take a 3-0 series lead!
NUMBERS GAME -> http://t.co/d38je5bHXz #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/3S0DiGk6VV— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 20, 2015

It was the third straight game Ottawa led 1-0 after the first period, per The Montreal Gazette’s Pat Hickey. 

The Canadiens badly outshot the Senators in the second period, 19-6, and 28-16 through the game’s first two periods combined. 

Senators head coach Dave Cameron started Anderson for Game 3 after Andrew Hammond gave up a combined seven goals in the first two games in Montreal. Anderson has suited up in just four games after he bruised his hand on Jan. 21, per NHL.com.

On Sunday, he wound up with 47 saves while his counterpart, Montreal netminder Carey Price, had 33 saves, per the NHL.com update.

The Senators had their best chance of pulling away with around three minutes left in the second period. That was when Ottawa forward Milan Michalek led a 3-on-2 rush, broke to the oustide and made his way to the goal only to have Price snuff his shot on a glove save, per NHL.com.

There’s something about the playoffs that brings out the best in Dale Weise. READ -> http://t.co/iFHG4x97Zu #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/pX9B1ctWk3— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 20, 2015

On the other hand, the NHL.com update says Canadiens had a chance to go on the board during a power-play opportunity in the first period but defenseman P.K. Subban’s shot hit the left post. 

Despite pulling off the victory, the Canadiens continued to come up short on power plays — they went 0-for-6 on Sunday and are now 1-for-13 for the series, per The Montreal Gazette. 

Hickey also describes the game’s very physical nature:

“The Senators were credited with 27 hits to 15 for the Canadiens. Ottawa continued to enjoy an edge in the physical side of the game. Chris Neil, who hadn’t played since early February, released some pent-up energy and joined Karlsson in the Ottawa hit parade.

“Karlsson had two big hits on Nathan Beaulieu, the second coming after the defenceman took a suicide pass from Tom Gilbert in the second period. Beaulieu returned after that hit, but didn’t play in the third period or the overtime.” 

Dale WEISE!! #gohabsgo #prolongation #ot https://t.co/nE8XSbqHbF— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 20, 2015

At game’s end, Anderson told The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch how frustrating an affair it was for the Senators:

“It was a close one. It’s frustrating. The guys battled so hard, played so well and to come up short is frustrating. 

“I gave them a chance to win and that’s my job. It’s frustrating I wasn’t able to get the win for the guys. We’ve got to put this behind us and get ready to go.”

Senators team captain Erik Karlsson told Garrioch on Sunday that Ottawa /4/be down, but it is not yet out:

“We played solid throughout the game. They did a good job and they made it hard on us. We couldn’t put the puck in the net and that was the only thing that was wrong with us. We came out, we dictated and we showed that we wanted to win the game more than they did.

“Nothing is lost yet. We’ve got to play again Wednesday. We still feel good about ourselves. We’ve just got to keep going and take it one game at a time. We’ll just focus on Wednesday. We’ll play that game and we’ll go from there.” 

Game 4 is set for April 22 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa at 7 p.m. ET, per NHL.com. 

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