Habs pound Sens, Cunneyworth gets first win
Posted December 27, 2011 10:05 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — Michael Cammalleri scored the game-winning goal as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Ottawa Senators 6-2 Tuesday night.
The victory was the first for Randy Cunneyworth since taking over as interim head coach of the Canadiens on December 17. The win also snapped a five-game losing streak.
Lars Eller, Tomas Plekanec, Louis Leblanc, P.K. Subban and Erik Cole also scored for Montreal (14-16-7), which scored six goals for the first time this season.
Raphael Diaz added three assists while Carey Price stopped 33 shots.
Zack Smith and Jason Spezza scored for the Senators (17-15-5). Craig Anderson was pulled after allowing four goals on seven shots and Alex Auld finished the night allowing two goals on 21 shots.
Things didn’t get off to a great start for the Canadiens as Ottawa scored less than two minutes into the game when Smith beat Price high over the shoulder.
But Montreal quickly turned things around scoring three goals before the end of the first period and never looked back.
Eller tied it 1-1 with a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle at the five-minute mark. Plekanec gave the Canadiens the lead as he deflected Diaz’s shot from the point and just over three minutes later Cammalleri banged home a rebound to make it 3-1.
It only got worse for the Senators in the second as Leblanc’s wrist shot completed a great two-on-one with Cammalleri early in the second, which marked the end of the night for Anderson.
Auld didn’t fare much better as Subban made it 5-1 with his third of the season.
Spezza gave some life to the home team as he banged home a Milan Michalek rebound. Michalek was playing his first game after missing the last five with a concussion. Alfredsson picked up his 650th career assist on the goal.
Cole added a power-play goal late in the third to make it 6-2.
.Notes: The Senators unveiled a new high definition scoreboard for the first time Tuesday night. … The Senators were without D Chris Phillips (undisclosed, day-to-day), C Jesse Winchester (concussion, day-to-day), and C Peter Regin (shoulder, indefinitely). Montreal was without RW Brian Gionta (lower body, indefinitely), D Andrei Markov (knee, indefinitely), C Scott Gomez (groin, indefinitely), RW Ryan White (groin, indefinitely). D Chris Campoli and D Yannick Weber were a healthy scratch.
