Ottawa roughs up Canadiens

MONTREAL -- The Ottawa Senators let their guard down and nearly paid for it.

"We got the 3-0 lead and then we stopped playing a little bit, we thought it was in the bag, but they play hard -- they're trying to get into the playoffs," Radek Bonk said after a 5-2 victory over Montreal. "You get that one goal and they're going to keep working for another, but we got some important goals when we needed them."

Daniel Alfredsson scored his 29th goal of the season on a power play midway through the third period Tuesday night.

Chris Neil, Shawn McEachern and Bonk scored as the Senators built a three-goal lead, but Montreal scored twice, including Richard Zednik's goal early in the third period to draw the Canadiens to 3-2.

Alfredsson quieted the Molson Centre crowd of 20,254 when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from Sami Salo past goalie Jose Theodore.

"(Salo) faked the shot so Theodore had to come out and challenge him," Alfredsson said. "When he came across it was an open net for me almost so it would have been hard to miss that."

Magnus Arvedson scored with 2:20 left to restore Ottawa's three-goal lead.

"We scored right off the bat and made it 3-2 with a lot of time left in the third," Canadiens defenseman Patrice Brisebois said. "That fourth goal killed us."

Neil opened the scoring as both teams resumed play following the NHL's break for the Olympics.

The first period was interrupted with 4:36 left to play after a panel of glass was jarred out of place in the corner behind the Canadiens' net. Both teams went to their dressing rooms, and the period was completed after the first intermission.

Bonk set up McEachern for his 12th of the season, and then scored his 18th of the season on a power play to increase Ottawa's lead to three.

Petrov made it 3-1 with his 20th of the season on a goalmouth scramble.

The Canadiens pulled within one 1:17 into the third when Petrov tipped in Stephane Quintal's shot from the point for his second goal of the game.

"The first half of the game we really dominated and played really well," Alfredsson said. "After we got the 3-0 lead we relaxed and sat back, tried to do too much, and turned the puck over way too much and gave them a chance to come back. But we scored some big power-play goals tonight and that was the difference."

Notes: The Canadiens said they had sold the naming rights to the Molson Centre, which will become the Bell Centre on Sept. 1. . . . Senators coach Jacques Martin and Canadiens equipment manager Pierre Gervais were given a standing ovation period when they were introduced to recognize their participation in Team Canada's gold medal-winning effort at the Winter Olympics. . . . Gervais was the only member of the Montreal organization involved in the Olympic tournament. . . . Brisebois returned to the lineup after missing 10 games because of an ankle injury.