After three good performances, the Canadian failed for the second time in eight days against one of the worst teams in the NHL.

Tim Stützle scored a goal and two assists, while Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist and the Ottawa Senators defeated the Montreal club 6-2 on Thursday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.

The Canadian had recently performed well against some of the NHL's best offenses – the Edmonton Oilers, Colorado Avalanche and New Jersey Devils. He also had the opportunity to win a third game in a row for the first time this season.

However, Martin St-Louis' team made too many mistakes in their transition game and suffered an embarrassing setback that was more reminiscent of their poor performance against the San Jose Sharks – a 3-2 loss at the Bell Center last Thursday.

“I think we were less precise in the details of our game than we have been recently,” said captain Nick Suzuki. Of course, our opponent has talented players who know how to exploit their rivals' mistakes. Then we were faced with a simply insurmountable deficit. »

The Senators had Wednesday off and are in the midst of a four-game home stretch. The Canadian, for his part, was in New Jersey and arrived in Ottawa that night.

“It's clear we lacked energy, and when you're tired you're less attentive,” St-Louis recalled after discussing his players' problems executing plays.

Cole Caufield and Michael Pezzetta gave the red light to the Canadian (19-19-7), who now has a record of 1-8-0 in his second game in a few days. Cayden Primeau had a difficult night despite a 31-save performance.

Parker Kelly had a goal and an assist, while Rourke Chartier, Vladimir Tarasenko and Mathieu Joseph also scored for the Senators (16-24-0), who won for the second time in their last eight games (2-6-0). Artem Zub had two assists and Joonas Korpisalo stopped 21 shots.

The Senators have won the last seven meetings between the two teams.

“It's not like we thought it was going to be easy at the start of the game,” emphasized Canadian defender Mike Matheson. It's a team that plays well against us and that hasn't played for a few days. They had energy and we talked about it before the game. »

The Canadian will finish his three-game trip with a visit to the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

An evening to forget

Korpisalo responded first and frustrated Matheson with a two-on-one attack.

Tkachuk then gave the Senators the lead with 8:40 left. At the beginning of the sequence, the Senators captain had subjected Matheson to a strict check. Sean Monahan then hit the post at the other end of the ice. Tkachuk finally surprised Primeau on the shield side.

The Senators returned at 11:07. Stützle also hit Primeau on the shield side after a two-on-one attack.

The Canadian then only had two shots on goal and the Senators had 13.

However, the Habs scored on their third shot on goal 6:35 minutes before the end of the first period. Caufield fired a sharp shot that hit Korpisalo's glove before falling behind the goal line.

Caufield scored a goal for the fourth game in a row.

There were fewer chances to score in the second period, but that didn't stop the Senators from extending their lead.

Chartier scored at 9:51, capitalizing on a poor goal from Primeau.

Tarasenko then increased the score to 4-1 with 66 seconds left. He surprised Primeau on the glove side in a three-on-two attack.

Claude Giroux beat Primeau short-handed with 14.2 seconds left in the middle period, but the goal was canceled after a foul by St-Louis. Officials concluded that Parker Kelly interfered with Primeau's work on the footage.

It was just a shift for the Senators, who eventually increased the lead to 5-1 1:41 minutes into the third period. After a turnover in the neutral zone, Stützle did all the work. He mocked David Savard's withdrawal, leaving Joseph to outsmart Primeau.

The rest of the meeting was just a formality.

The Canadian replaced Primeau with an additional attacker more than eight minutes before the end of the game. This allowed Kelly to score into an empty net only after 12:26.

Pezzetta then surprised Korpisalo on the glove side with 4:44 left.

To watch in the video