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Senators complete home-and-home sweep of Canadiens

Feb 11, 2007 - 5:00 AM MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Ottawa Senators coach Bryan Murray's team again took quick advantage of the Montreal Canadiens.

Mike Comrie had a goal and an assist and captain Daniel Alfredsson set up two tallies as the Senators finished a home-and-home sweep of the Canadiens with a 5-3 victory.

Ottawa scored twice in the first period and has outscored Montreal, 11-2, in the opening session of their seven encounters this season. The Senators have won four of the matchups and are 15-4-2 overall since December 21.

After Comrie opened the scoring with a slap shot from the left faceoff circle at 2:10, he set up Chris Kelly, who beat goaltender David Aebischer with a shot that caromed off the left goalpost with 9:34 left in the session.

"I thought we came out hard," Comrie said. "Playing in these type of games, you've got to be patient. We got a couple of goals early, but we stayed with it and we were patient throughout the whole game."

Montreal tied the game in the second as Steve Begin netted his third tally and Michael Ryder scored his 16th on a power play with a redirection in the slot that got past netminder Ray Emery.

"We knew that a two-goal lead probably wasn't going to be something we could sit on," Ottawa center Jason Spezza said. "We knew there were times where we would have to battle back, and we had a good start in the third period and that gave us time to trap it up a little bit at the end."

Defenseman Wade Redden snapped the 2-2 tie during a man advantage with 3:23 to go in the second, wristing a shot inside the right post for his fifth tally of the season.

"(Redden's goal) was important for us to get some momentum on the power play, and then coming into the third and starting the way we did obviously gave us some breathing room," Alfredsson said. "I think we defended pretty good and (Emery) made some good saves. Being the big game that it was, I think we've got to be happy."

Mike Fisher netted his 10th goal just 17 seconds into the third period and Spezza scored his 22nd nearly 3 1/2 minutes later with a one-timer for a 5-2 advantage.

All-Star Dany Heatley and Antoine Vermette each collected two assists and Emery made 37 saves in raising his record to 24-13-2 for Ottawa.

Blue-liner Andrei Markov added a third-period goal and Aebischer stopped 25 shots for Montreal, which has dropped five of six.

"I think there was a lot of effort in this game and the game before, but a team is 20 guys pushing the same way, and we still have a few guys that aren't doing that," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said.

After slipping to 12-13-3 on the road this season, the Canadiens held a 30-minute players-only meeting to clear the air on their performance.

"A month ago, we were five points behind Buffalo for first place in the (Eastern) Conference, and now we're in a real dogfight to make the playoffs," Montreal defenseman Sheldon Souray said. "We can't wait until it's too late to realize we have a good thing here. We have to refocus and come back."

"We just wanted to make sure that everyone was clear that we have a kind of sense of emergency right now and get back on track and get some wins," Canadiens captain Saku Koivu said. "It's not easy, but you can't feel sorry for yourself, and there won't be anyone to do the job other than the guys in this room."

Since a five-game winning streak in December, Montreal is 8-13-1 and has not won more than two straight contests during that stretch.

"The good thing about this team is that it's good enough to recover and we have the guys that can do the job," Canadiens right wing Alexei Kovalev said. "One little piece is missing right now to turn this thing around.

"Now, it's definitely not enjoyable. We're working hard, but the puck is not going in the net. We get more frustrated, but it's going to go in the net sooner or later. We just have to keep going and keep pushing ourselves."