Karlsson happy that Senators regain scoring touch in 4-3 win over Canadiens

MONTREAL – Erik Karlsson was relieved his Ottawa Senators piled on the goals for the first time in nearly a month.

Ottawa scored more than twice in regulation time for the first time in its last 13 games as it downed the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Tuesday night. Karlsson scored the winner in the third period as the Sens came from behind to snap their two-game losing skid.

“We did a good job, forechecking hard, capitalizing on turnovers,” said Karlsson, who reached the 400-point plateau with an assist in the second period. “When we got it, we found a way to put it in the back of the net with good shots. When we needed it, we put it in the net.

“We had to make it as hard as we could for (Carey Price).”

Montreal had three one-goal leads in the game but the Sens never fell further behind.

Down 3-2 in the third, Mark Stone tied things up from the slot after three Canadiens players got caught behind their own net. Karlsson, the Sens (11-7-1) captain, then broke a 3-3 deadlock at 5:37, the visitors’ first lead of the evening, on a fluke no-look shot from the blue line after a bad giveaway by Jeff Petry.

“We bounced back every time they got one and that was a key part of the game,” said Mike Hoffman, who scored and added two assists. “Definitely an interesting game to be a part of, going back and forth. We haven’t had too many of those this year.

“It gives the whole group a boost of confidence when we get more than one or two goals.”

Montreal (14-4-2) played with five defencemen in the third period after Nathan Beaulieu left the game at the end of the second. Beaulieu took a shot from Derick Brassard to his neck and went straight to the dressing room.

The Canadiens later confirmed Beaulieu was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons.

With Beaulieu’s absence came extended ice times for Shea Weber (29:16) and Andrei Markov (30:43), Montreal’s veteran defencemen.

Coach Michel Therrien didn’t have additional information on Beaulieu’s injury after the game, though he admitted losing Beaulieu took a toll on his defence.

“For sure when you’re missing a guy like Nathan, who can play on the power play, on the penalty kill, it taxed our defencemen,” said Therrien. “But I thought they did a good job. Markov had a hell of a game. Weber the same thing.”

After a sloppy first period by both teams, the goals came in quick succession in the second.

Weber got the Habs on the board 56 seconds into the period with a thunderous slapshot from the point on the power play. Seven of Weber’s eight goals scored this season have been scored with the man advantage. Weber also has seven of Montreal’s 15 power-play goals.

Five minutes later, with Ottawa on the power play, Hoffman beat Price above the shoulder from an extremely tight angle to make it 1-1.

The Canadiens regained their lead at 7:29 when Alexander Radulov scored after an impressive effort. The Russian dangled around Hoffman along the boards, cut to the net, shot on Craig Anderson once then scored on his own rebound while falling to the ice.

Brassard tied things 2-2 late in the second before Alex Galchenyuk answered back at 2:08 of the third.

Notes: Anderson made 36 saves while Price stopped 19 of 23 shots in defeat. … The Sens conceded a power-play goal for the first time in their last 14 games. … Markov had three assists. … Charles Hudon and Greg Pateryn were healthy scratches for Montreal. Brian Flynn is still out with an upper-body injury.