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Alfredsson, Neil power Senators past Canadiens

Nov 11, 2007 - 1:04 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- A third-period surge was all the Ottawa Senators needed to avoid losing their second straight game.

Daniel Alfredsson and Chris Neil scored 100 seconds apart in the third period to lift the Senators to a 3-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday in a battle of Northeast Division rivals.

Alfredsson added an empty-net goal with 26 seconds remaining for Ottawa, which boasts the best record in the NHL. Montreal fell to 7-2-1 in its last 10 games and is now seven points behind the front-running Senators.

"Tonight was an emotional game for everybody," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "We knew coming in they lost their last game, so we knew we had to play hard, and we did."

Neil's tally with 3 1/2 minutes remaining in the third served as the game-winner.

Dean McAmmond gained control of the puck and raced in on goaltender Cristobal Huet. His shot was denied, but after Anton Volchenkov corralled the puck, the Russian defenseman fed Neil in the slot.

Neil wristed the puck over Huet's right shoulder to give Ottawa a 2-1 advantage. It was the enforcer's second goal of the season.

"I was able to get a quick release away and caught (Huet) off-guard a little bit," Neil said. "I was very fortunate to get the puck in the slot and I was able to beat him with a shot that I placed pretty good."

Alfredsson leveled the game just 1:40 prior to Neil's tally.

Dany Heatley wheeled around the right faceoff circle before finding Alfredsson in the slot. The captain then blasted a shot past a screened Huet to tie the contest at 1-1.

"We had some good chances but couldn't score until Heatley made a great pass to me in the slot, and I was able to get good wood on it," said Alfredsson, who has goals in each of his last three games.

"(Huet) made some unbelievable saves there in the second, so it was fun to see one finally get through him in the third period."

Montreal defenseman Andrei Markov opened the scoring 11:11 into the first period with his fifth tally of the season.

With the Canadiens on the power play, captain Saku Koivu backhanded a pass from the corner to Markov, who blasted a shot from the blue line that beat netminder Martin Gerber high to the blocker side.

"We skated with them and we matched their play," Huet said. "We outplayed them in the first, so it's good for our confidence to know that we can play with the best in the league."

That was the only puck the Canadiens would slip past Gerber, who made 28 saves. The Swiss netminder improved to 6-1-0 in seven career games against Montreal.

"We do get a lot of confidence from him, and it goes both ways," Alfredsson said of Gerber. "He gets confidence from us because we're all playing well."

Huet made 34 saves and even denied Alfredsson on a penalty shot midway through the second period. Alfredsson has scored just once on five career penalty shots.

"On the penalty shot, I did everything I could to get my heart rate down to 150," Alfredsson said. "I tried to delay it because I was dead tired. I wanted to shoot, but then I decided to deke and go on my backhand, but I was too slow today."

Montreal finished 1-for-4 on the power play, while Ottawa went 0-for-2.

"We played very hard and everybody gave their best," Huet said. "It's a hard one not to get any points after everyone played very well. It's good for our confidence to know that we can play with the best in the league."