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At the 11:11 mark of the first period Andrei Markov scored a power play goal to provide the Canadiens with a one goal lead that Montreal held until the dying minutes of the third period. Daniel Alfredsson who was stopped earlier on a penalty shot by Cristobal Huet was left wide open in the high slot and received a pass from Danny Heatley which he put into the back of the net for his team leading 12th goal of the season.

Less then two minutes later Dean Mcammond walked around Francis Bouillon but was stopped but Huet unfortunately for the Canadiens they could not contain the rebound and the puck ended up on the stick of Chris Neal who beat Huet on the far side on what was surely a goal Huet would like to have back.

Despite the low scoring game it was very exciting and had a play-off type atmosphere with plenty of scoring chances. Both goalies were fantastic for the first 40 minutes virtually matching each other save for save as the action went from end to end all game long.

Canadiens “enforcer” Saku Koivu dropped his gloves in the first period with Patrick Eves but since neither of the two seemed to “actually fight” they were only given coincidental double minors for roughing.

Montreal continues to struggle on Saturday’s. Their record on hockey night over the past two season’s is a paltry 12-17-1-3 and 0-4 against the Sens during that time frame. Ottawa on the other hand is an incredible Saturday team with a record of 23-6-1-1 over the last two seasons, Ottawa has now won 10 consecutive Saturday nights.

Mike Komisarek had one of his best games of the year he made every shift he was on the ice for absolute hell for the Senators forwards. Finishing the game with 5 hits and 6 blocked shots is not to shabby either. Anton Volchenkov matched Komisarek all night long preventing many scoring chances from being created.

Despite the score sheet reading 25% for the Canadiens power play tonight it was not good at all. Montreal was able to gain the zone easily most times by carrying the puck over the line but once in the zone their collective hand eye coordination was comparable to a litter of new born kittens.

Alfredsson added an empty net goal with 26 seconds left to seal the deal.

For fans that watched this game and did not get enough don’t worry Ottawa will be in Montreal next Monday to renew the rivalry.

Three stars

1. Martin Gerber – the old adage says to be good you must be lucky and lucky to be good Gerber had both going for him tonight. He is the number one in Ottawa for the foreseeable future.

2. Daniel Alfredsson- led all forwards with 7 shots and was the most pesky forward on either team.. Oh yeah a pair of goals never hurts either.

3. Cristobal Huet – he was great for the first fifty minutes and that is where he earned his star. His 2nd period was incredible.

Line up notes : Steve Begin and Josh Gorges were the scratches for the Canadiens with McGratton and Spezza out for the Sens.