About Last Night: Habs enter All-Star Break firmly in division cellar

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The Montreal Canadiens entered the All-Star break with a 5-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.

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Sens captain Brady Tkachuk scored the game winner with 1:18 left in regulation to extend his team’s winning streak to four. For the Habs, it was yet another loss in their reverse retro blues.

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When it comes to the race to the bottom of the standings and the chance at a high draft pick, the Sens took four points from the Habs on Saturday and Tuesday to put Montreal six points behind the Red Wings for seventh in the Atlantic.

Montreal sits 26th in the league standings, only one point up on the Vancouver Canucks and three up on the San Jose Sharks.

Rafaël Harvey-Pinard scored twice, giving him five goals in seven games since his call-up. Nick Suzuki, Josh Anderson and Mike Hoffman each had two points.

The Sens got on the scoresheet with two goals in the opening four minutes. First it was Claude Giroux catching a piece of Nikita Zaitsev’s shot with his glove.

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Then Tim Stutzle got his first of four points on the night with his 21st goal on the season from a spin pass by Mathieu Joseph.

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Montreal got one back before the end of the first. On the power play, Suzuki got the initial whack, but it was Kirby Dach who banged home the loose puck to make it 2-1.

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In the second, Jake Allen settled down from letting in two early to make a highlight reel glove save.

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The Sens responded with a power-play goal of their own. Alex DeBrincat fired a laser from a pass by Stutzle to give Ottawa a 3-1 lead.

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With five seconds left in the second period and Montreal on the power play, Mike Matheson kept the puck in the zone and found Hoffman in a shooting lane. Hoffman’s one-timer blast pulled Montreal to within one entering the third. Animosity between Tkachuk and Arber Xhekaj was bubbling up from an earlier hit by the former, and the frame ended with a shoving match.

Harvey-Pinard pulled double duty during the game on the fourth line with Alex Belzile and Michael Pezzetta, but also spent time on the top line with Suzuki and Anderson. Harvey-Pinard cashed in on the doorstep for his first of the night. It was 3-3.

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The Sens regained the lead 4-3 a minute later on the red-hot stick of Stutzle. It was Ottawa’s second power play marker of the night, matching Montreal’s production with the man advantage.

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But Harvey-Pinard had more magic, pouncing on a loose puck in close range to once again even the score.

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Overtime looked like a possibility, but Sens captain Tkachuk came through in the clutch, scoring with just over a minute left to send the Habs into a 10-day break with consecutive losses to Ottawa.

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The players and coaches are programmed to fight valiantly until the end, but Canadiens management will be a little more pragmatic the rest of the way. They’re probably hoping for more acceptable defeats, like Tuesdays 5-4 loss where they played well in their cursed blue sweaters without gaining points in the standings.

The same could be said for the Liveblog commenters, who know what’s at stake with every loss. They expect veterans to be shipped out as we near the deadline, and maybe a few more exciting performances from younger players like Harvey-Pinard. It’s not necessarily fun to root against your favorite team, but the Liveblog commentators will be doing it when the Habs return from the break, and they’ll be doing it for the greater good.

3. “10 days to prepare for trades and tankathon…” -Arthur Chilli

2. “0-7 in the retros?” -Chris C

1. “Well that was fun, a lot more entertaining, than Saturdays game. We wanted losses and entertainment, and we got both.” -Ryan Katz