Thomas Chabot tied the game with just over a minute to play, while Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson each had three points for the Senators.
In their final home game of the season, the Ottawa Senators put on a great farewell show for their fans with a 5-4 shootout victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Drake Batherson assisted on the tying goal and then scored the only goal of the shootout as the Sens defeated Montreal for the ninth straight time,
Sometimes all that matters in a lost season is whether you beat your rivals.
In a chaotic, feisty, and entertaining game filled with special teams play, the Senators went down by a goal on four occasions, yet rallied every time to win Jacques Martin’s last game in Ottawa as Senators coach.
"It's been great," said Martin. "I've enjoyed the opportunity to come back and hopefully help the team to understand what it takes to be in the playoffs, how you need to play on a nightly basis, and help the players grow."
It began with some misfortune for the Senators when Mike Matheson found himself on a shorthanded breakaway. Following a Jake Sanderson turnover, Matheson undressed Joonas Korpisalo with an unbelievable move to open the scoring.
The rivalry began to show its colours when Ridly Greig engaged in a battle with Nick Suzuki away from the puck. Eventually, Suzuki threw Greig down for an ill-advised penalty.
Brady Tkachuk proceeded to tie the game on that power play, outmuscling the Canadiens defenders in front, then shoving a rebound home to tie the game at 1. For Tkachuk, the goal set a new career high in goals with 36 on the season.
“In the grand scheme of things,(the milestone) doesn't really mean much,” said Tkachuk. "Like I said this morning, it wasn't about individual goals this year. It was more about team goals. Unfortunately, we didn't hit them."
In the second period, Cole Caufield was on the same quest as Tkachuk to achieve a career high in goals. Caufield began his quest by outwaiting Korpisalo in front to tie his personal best with 26 goals to reclaim the lead 2-1 for the Canadiens.
The lead wouldn’t last long. On the power play, Claude Giroux batted down a puck then quickly found Shane Pinto in front who made no mistake, tying the game 2-2.
Caufield then matched Tkachuk's feat by ripping home his 27th goal of the season achieving his own career-high in goals.
Heading into the third, the Senators had another power play, and who better to score than Tkachuk, who neatly dragged the puck at the side of the net onto his backhand roofing it past Primeau to tie the game 3-3. Tkachuk celebrated with a whimsical look to the crowd as if to say 'you can’t stop me.'
Through dumb luck, the Canadiens broke up the Senators party when Alex Newhook banked a pass off Jakob Chychrun's skate past a helpless Korpisalo to give the Habs a late 4-3 lead.
The Senators pulled their goalie to try and even the game for the fourth time on the night. Who would have thought that Thomas Chabot would be the one in front of the Montreal net, tipping home the game tying goal with 1:05 left in the third period? Chabot spoke about the friendly rivalry between the defence and the forwards.
“We like chirping each other, with the forwards saying we don't get our shots through," said Chabot. "And we (defenceman) chirp them, saying that they don't screen the goalie.”
The overtime saw a bundle of chances but nothing came to fruition for either team. Korpisalo made several huge stops in the third period, the overtime and the shootout.
In a shootout, Drake Batherson used a patented Daniel Alfredsson quick release on the forehand to score the winning shootout goal.
“Me and Alfie actually did a video session a few weeks back about that move,” said Batherson. “I figured I’d try on my first chance to do it. It worked out. He gave me a wink there after so it was fun.”
It’s always fun for the Senators to beat the rival Montreal Canadiens, especially with so many Hab fans occupying their building.
Ottawa will finish the season with two games on the road, on Monday against the New York Rangers, then Tuesday in Boston.