Tkachuk scores first goal as Senators end road trip with ‘massive’ win over Canadiens

By Canadian Press on December 3, 2025.

MONTREAL — Brady Tkachuk enjoys being a villain at the Bell Centre.

The Ottawa Senators captain famously — or infamously — dropped the gloves for the United States as part of three fights in nine seconds against Canada at last February’s 4 Nations Face-Off.

On Tuesday, he scored his first goal of the season and taunted the crowd as the Senators ground down the Canadiens for a 5-2 win to cap a season-long seven-game road trip.

“Massive win,” Tkachuk said. “It’s a four-point swing, these types of games. And usually these big games are after the bye week (later in the season), but with how close everything is, it’s important in early December.

“Last game of the road trip, we wanted to get this road trip on an over .500 record and then that’d be a successful trip. It was a great game by absolutely everybody on the team.”

Tkachuk, who missed 20 games with a thumb injury, scored for the first time in six games this season.

The six-foot-four, 226-pound winger buried the insurance goal with a snap shot past Sam Montembeault at 12:43 of the third period, raised his arms to celebrate with a Senators fan along the glass, and shoved his teammates in excitement.

The Canadiens fans, meanwhile, filled the building with jeers — both because of Tkachuk’s goal and the delayed penalty to Brendan Gallagher that preceded it.

“I don’t know if they’re booing me or booing the play behind me,” Tkachuk. “But yeah, it’s always nice when you hear the boos from this crowd.”

Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub — with a slick behind-the-back assist from Tkachuk — also scored as Ottawa (13-9-4) snapped a two-game skid, including a dismal 6-1 loss to Dallas on Sunday.

Ottawa, with 30 points, also leapfrogged Montreal into second place in the Atlantic. The Canadiens dropped outside the playoff picture.

Senators coach Travis Green credited his team’s work at 5-on-5, as Ottawa’s relentless forecheck overwhelmed its opponent on a night the Canadiens lacked effort.

“Real good team effort,” Green said. “Our 5-on-5 game was excellent tonight. I like how we played away from the puck. I like how we hounded the puck. It’s a good game.

“We talked about where our mindset should be after we’ve lost two games in a row, playing a team that we’re a point behind in their building. At this time of the year this is probably as close to a playoff-like game you’re gonna get.”

DEFENCE TO OFFENCE

Along with Sanderson and Zub’s goals, Jordan Spence and Tyler Kleven provided two assists apiece as Ottawa’s blue line contributed six points on the night.

“I honestly thought this was probably one of our d-core’s best games of the season,” Sanderson said. “We were skating the puck out of the zone, we were breaking out pucks really cleanly.”

Sanderson pinched in from the point, drove to the net and beat Montembeault to the backhand to give the Senators a 3-1 lead in the second.

“We had a pre-scout — just take pucks to the net and be dirty with it,” he said.

‘UNACCEPTABLE’

While the Senators celebrated a gritty road win, the Canadiens (13-9-3) kicked themselves for a poor defensive effort.

Montembeault looked shaky, giving up several juicy rebounds, but the skaters in front of him were often caught watching as Ottawa charged the crease uncontested.

“It’s kind of just unacceptable,” winger Cole Caufield said. “Our whole d-zone today was, you know, a lack of maybe effort or being ready to go, but you know (I’m) tired of losing due to d-zone one-on-one battles. I mean, you gotta find your guy and you gotta win that battle.

“Most of their goals come off our mistakes and our issues with not picking guys up, and it’s unacceptable … it better be a one-off. There’s a lot more effort in this room and we gotta prove that, especially at home.”

One minute after Sanderson’s goal, Batherson pounced on another loose rebound and casually flipped the puck into an open net as Montreal’s defence stood still.

“I’m disappointed the way our team defended tonight,” coach Martin St. Louis said. “The other team defended way harder than we did. We lost a lot of battles, and defensively we weren’t there.”

The Canadiens play again Wednesday night against the Winnipeg Jets.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2025.

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press