Canadiens nip Senators

MONTREAL—It took Max Pacioretty one shift to show he has completely recovered from appendix surgery.
Only eight days after an emergency appendectomy, the left-winger found a puck in the slot and slid it to the net for David Desharnais to tip in for a goal that helped the Montreal Canadiens to a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators yesterday afternoon.

Pacioretty, who was expected to be out for three-four weeks, looked strong as ever as he skated a regular shift on the top line with Desharnais and Erik Cole, and picked up his fifth point in four games played this season.
“I just trusted that those two battling would make the right play and it ended up right on my stick,” he said of the goal that tied the game 1-1 at only 2:13 of the period after Jakob Silfverberg opening the scoring for Otawa.
“That’s what I mean about them doing the heavy lifting early on.”
Pacioretty’s ability to bounce back from injuries causes fans—and even his teammates—to shake their heads in wonder.
In the 2010-11 season, he was stretched off the Bell Centre with a concussion and a broken vertebrae in his neck after crashing head first into a stanchion.
But he was back on his feet within days.
He missed the last 15 games of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs, but might have been back if the Canadiens had gone further into the post-season.
He responded with a break-out, 33-goal season in 2011-12 and was awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy for persistence and dedication.
Cole had the winner later in the first period for the Canadiens (6-2-0), who swept home games on consecutive afternoons after a 6-1 win over the Buffao Sabres on Saturday.
The Senators (5-3-1) were coming off a 1-0 loss in Carolina on Friday night and are struggling to score with top centre Jason Spezza out with a sore back.
Goalies Carey Price and Craig Anderson were both at the top of their games as Ottawa outshot Montreal 33-32.
Price may have caught a break as a goalie interference call nullified a goal by Senators’ defenceman Andre Benoit 1:26 into the third frame.
Price was outside the crease when Silfverberg learned into him as Benoit shot.
“We thought we had tied the game and they waved it off,” noted Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson.
“We didn’t think it should have been waved off but that’s the way it goes.
“We still had some good chances after that. It wasn’t to be,” he added.
Elsewhere in the NHL, Pittsburgh doubled Washington 6-3, Florida nipped Buffalo 4-3, and New Jersey blanked the N.Y. Islanders 3-0.