Hudon, Canadiens ride fast start to win against Senators

OTTAWA -- Charles Hudon and Artturi Lehkonen each scored two goals, and Al Montoya made 25 saves to help the Montreal Canadiens to an 8-3 victory against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Monday.
It is the first time the Canadiens (4-7-1) have won consecutive games this season; they defeated the New York Rangers 5-4 on Saturday.
Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Plekanec scored for Montreal. The goals by Hudon were his first and second in the NHL.

WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Senators highlights
Tom Pyatt, Ryan Dzingel and Christopher DiDomenico scored for the Senators (5-2-5), who failed to earn a point for the second time this season and have lost two games in a row (0-1-1).
Craig Anderson allowed six goals on 15 shots and was replaced by Mike Condon for the third period. Condon made 12 saves.
Hudon looked upward after his first goal, a brilliant individual effort that saw him skate by Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson inside the Ottawa blue line and score on a hard shot past Anderson to the stick side to tie the game 1-1 at 4:27 of the first period.
Hudon, 23, said he was thinking about childhood friend and former teammate Nicholas Antonelli, who was killed by a drunken driver when they were 17.
"I know Nick is behind me since I lost my friend," Hudon said. "Every single goal I score since that date is for him. Today is a big one, and I'm pretty sure he's happy."
Hudon scored his second goal at 16:00 of the first to give the Canadiens a 4-2 lead. He shifted the puck to his backhand and lifted it into the corner over Anderson's glove.

"He's a good shooter," Montreal coach Claude Julien said. "He's had some good scoring chances that haven't gone in. But tonight, that second goal, the backhand goal to the top shelf, I thought he showed some really good patience there. That's a sign of a goal-scorer and a goal-scorer who's gaining a lot of confidence."
Pacioretty scored shorthanded at 7:20 to make it 2-1, but Dzingel scored at 8:15 during the same penalty to tie it 2-2. Lehkonen gave the Canadiens a 3-2 lead at 13:17.
After DiDomenico scored for the second game in a row to make it 4-3 on the power play at 10:34 of the second period, Galchenyuk and Gallagher took advantage of some uncharacteristic defensive lapses by the Senators to score in the final 2:19 of the period and put the Canadiens ahead 6-3.

Galchenyuk scored his fourth goal on a breakaway at 17:41, and Gallagher scored his fourth of the season with 30.6 seconds left.
"We had a stinker," Senators coach Guy Boucher said. "It's our first one in 12 games. I'd love to say it's going to be our last one, but 82 games, we all know it's not true.
"You hate to have it now, you hate to have it at home, you hate to have it against them, that's for sure. But we've won as a team, we've battled as a team, and now we've lost as a team. We were off."
Plekanec scored at 5:10 of the third period to give Montreal a 7-3 lead, and Lehkonen's second of the night made it 8-3 at 13:24.
The Senators took a 1-0 lead 21 seconds into the game when Pyatt's shot from the left face-off circle hit Montoya in the shoulder, trickled down his back and went into the net.

Goal of the game

Galchenyuk's breakaway goal at 17:41 of the second period.

Save of the game

Montoya's save on Zack Smith with 1:04 left in the second period.

Highlight of the game

Hudon's first goal at 4:27 of the first period.

They said it

"It's a wild night. After (allowing) that first one, I had to remind myself I've been there before. It's one of those things you've got to put behind you, and luckily the team came back and they didn't let that push us back." -- Canadiens goaltender Al Montoya
"I think I've definitely had way worse games and got away with it. Today was not one of those nights. -- Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, who was on the ice for seven Canadiens goals and was minus-6

Need to know

Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber had three assists. … With a goal and an assist, Plekanec has 584 NHL points, tied with Mario Tremblay for 15th in Canadiens history. … Karlsson had two assists. He has 11 in seven games this season.

What's next

Canadiens:At the Minnesota Wild on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)
Senators: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; RDS2, TSN5, FS-D, NHL.TV)