The Ottawa Senators let a golden opportunity slip away.
A disappointing end to a disappointing night.
The Senators probably deserved a better fate, but close doesn’t cut it any more as the club dropped a 3-2 decision to the Montreal Canadiens in front of 17,229 on Wednesday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Goaltender Linus Ullmark served up a huge rebound, and Ivan Demidov gave the Habs the lead at 12:40 of the third period. That can’t happen in a pivotal game, but Habs rookie goaltender Jacob Fowler came up big with 32 stops.
Ullmark didn’t look like he knew where the puck was on Demidov’s effort, and that turned out to be the difference.
Drake Batherson scored twice for the Senators.
Trailing the Boston Bruins by five points for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot, this was an opportunity for the Senators to close the gap as they try desperately to make the playoffs for the second straight spring.
“We don’t get to pick and choose the ones we win,” Senators head coach Travis Green said. “We’re going to lose another game before the end. We don’t sit there and say we have to beat Montreal, and we can afford to lose against Calgary.
“We played a really good game coming off a long road trip. We have to worry about ourselves; we can’t worry about the other teams. Would we have liked to have won? Hell yeah.”
Nothing has come easily for the Senators this season, and this was no different. The third period was tight-checking, and scoring chances were difficult to come by with this pivotal game on the line.
The National Hockey League playoffs don’t start for more than a month, but this one had a post-season feeling to it because there was so much on the line. These two teams don’t like each other, and they didn’t back down from each other.
The Senators came into this game with a 9-1-2 record in their previous 12 games, while the Habs were 6-1-3 in their last 10. The Senators had to try to push the pace, because Montreal had played on Tuesday, recording a 3-1 win at home over Toronto.
The 417 series
This was the final contest between the Senators and Habs this season.
The next time they meet could be in the playoffs, if both teams make it, but the Senators had a 1-0-2 record versus Montreal in the first three games.
The Senators closed out their trip with a 4-0-1 record after winning on Monday against the Vancouver Canucks. The club will play 13 of its final 19 games at home, so this will be a pivotal home stand to determine if Ottawa will make the post-season.
These games don’t always live up to the hype, but this one did.
The Habs tied it 2-2 at 17:29 of the second period to set up a dramatic final period. The shots were 21-17 in favour of the Senators, but the 21-year-old Fowler gave his club a chance.
“They’re one of the most skilled teams in the league. They move it around well, and you’ve got to try to limit their chances,” said Batherson. “The margins are so tight at this time of year. It gets tougher to score and tougher to win games.
“I like the way we’ve been playing, and we’ve just got to continue to do that. We’ve been getting results.”
Fowler stopped Michael Amadio on a breakaway, and that led to the tying goal by Alexandre Texier on a wraparound. He circled the net to beat a sprawling Ullmark through the five-hole.
Texier might have been the only one in the building who knew it was in the net because he raised his hands to celebrate.
Strong start by the Senators
Batherson’s goal on a rebound with 1:18 left in the first period was his second of the game and gave the Senators a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
The Habs and Senators went toe-to-toe by using their speed to create scoring chances. Tim Stutzle stretched his point streak to 14 games with two assists in the first period.
There was a delayed reaction to the tying goal by Batherson.
With the club on the power play, it initially looked like Fowler had made the stop on a puck in the crease. Batherson didn’t react with a celebration, but the officials had to go upstairs to take a second look.
After review, it was ruled that the puck had completely crossed the goal line, and the game was tied 1-1 with 3:18 left in the first.
“I had no idea it was in,” said Batherson. “I didn’t think I scored. When I got to the bench, the guys knew it barely crossed the line.”
Talk about a tough start. Dylan Cozens was given an early interference call for impeding Fowler. That set up the opening goal by Juraj Slafkovsky on the power play only 1:14 into the game.
Alone in front, he redirected a pass past Ullmark on the stick side. Green was seething at the call on Cozens.
Juraj Slafkovsky of the Montreal Canadiens scores on Linus Ullmark of the Ottawa Senators in the first period at the Canadian Tire Centre on March 11, 2026.
Status quo
The Senators didn’t make any changes to their forwards or defence for the game against the Habs.
Ullmark returned to the Ottawa net after backup James Reimer recorded a 16-save shutout versus Vancouver. Ullmark came into this night with a 5-0-2 record in his previous seven starts with a 2.43 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage.
He wasn’t tested a whole lot in this one because the Senators are playing strong defensively. Ullmark needed to make the stop on the Texier goal, especially when the Senators hadn’t allowed many chances.
There was no shortage of intrigue around the Canadiens’ decision to recall Fowler from the American Hockey League’s Laval Rocket and give him the start ahead of Samuel Montembeault.
The Habs were trying to give themselves the best chance to win. Ottawa had scored 10 goals on Montembeault in the last two meetings. Against the Senators, he has a 5-5-0 career record with a 3.52 GAA and a .874 save percentage.
bgarrioch@postmedia.com