Of course that was the way it went down, could it really have gone any other way?

The Ottawa Senators came in as the league's 29th most potent offense and facing the NHL's best goalie they score four times - in regulation - and skate out of the Bell Centre with a 4-3 win.

There were a ton of reasons why the Senators shouldn't have won - too many penalties (and a couple of them being unnecessary, selfish plays), way too many times allowing stretch passes to spring Habs forwards in alone being a couple.

However, Craig Anderson did his job, and the players the Senators expect to score had good nights. Ottawa got a power play goal from Mike Hoffman and then dirty area goals from Mark Stone, Derick Brassard and Erik Karlsson. The final point of contact for each of the last three markers was within a couple feet of the goalcrease, and in the case of Brassard's goal, in the crease.

In handing the Canadiens their first regulation home loss, and Price his first regulation loss of the season, the Senators had to claw back from one goal defecits three times before finally taking the lead after Karlsson's shot from the side boards went in off the skate of Jeff Petry, who was occupied with trying to move Jean-Gabriel Pageau from Price's eyeline.

The Senators were shorthanded eight times, and allowed two Montreal power play markers to snap their consecutive streak for games (13) and penalty kills (34), but in the end the parade to the penalty box might have actually worked to the Senators advantage. Stone started out on a line with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Zack Smith, but all of the penalty killing forced a shuffle of the lines and Stone ended up with Brassard and Hoffman, and at least for one night looked like magic. Stone and Hoffman each had three points and Brassard picked up an assist to go with his goal as the makeshift line dominated.

Karlsson also had a monster game for the Senators, picking up two points and making solid plays that started the plays that led to the other two goals. The assist on Hoffman's power play goal was his 400th career point. Oh yeah, and he also blocked six Montreal shots that moved him into a tie for the league lead in that category.

This game was more reminiscent of last year where the Senators traded rushes, allowed far too many chances against but capitalized on their own opportunities and managed to out-score the opposition. The problem is that style of play didn't work on enough nights last year and I don't think Guy Boucher wants to see that night in and night out under his watch. But it was certainly one of the more exciting, chance filled games of the season, and it could have very easily gone the other way if not for a couple of timely saves by Anderson. No matter which side you were rooting for it was a game that featured great intensity and competitiveness that you would expect, and Montreal fans can certainly feel like they deserved a better fate, much like Ottawa felt on Saturday where they had the edge in play but came up short.

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Ryan Dzingel is becoming one of the more exciting players on the rush in the league with his world class speed, but despite having a quick start (4 goals in his first 6 games), he has tallied just once in his last thirteen. He has created chances galore for himself, but seems to have hands of Condra at this point in time. Maybe it is a case of his hands not being able to catch up to his feet, but you would just like to see him cash in on those opportunities with a little more regularity.

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