(CP)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Spotty goaltending and costly injuries have the once soaring Ottawa Senators sputtering into the post-season.
Andrei Kostitsyn scored twice as the Montreal Canadiens built a big lead and then held on for a 7-5 victory over the visiting Senators last night.

Montreal clinched a playoff spot and widened its lead atop the Eastern Conference to three points over the Pittsburgh Penguins, who lost 4-1 to the N.Y. Islanders last night.
Things are not going as well for their Northeast Division rivals. Ottawa (41-28-7) has lost three of its last four games—a span in which it conceded 19 goals.
The Senators, who are 26-26-7 since starting the season 15-2-0, play again tonight in Buffalo.
And the Senators are getting banged up.
After losing Dean McAmmond (thigh) and Chris Kelly (fractured leg) earlier this week, they lost defenceman Wade Redden late in the first period last night after he fell awkwardly into the boards.
He returned at the start of the second frame, but left again after one shift with a bruised hip, although coach Bryan Murray said he expects him to play in Buffalo tonight.
Murray said his whole team wasn’t ready for Montreal.
“It was more important for them early on than it was for us, obviously,” he said. “We came out flat-footed, our defence didn’t move the puck, and we didn’t get many stops from the goaltenders.
“When you dig a hole like that, it’s hard to come back and even be competitive.”
Christopher Higgins, Francis Bouillon, Andrei Markov, Mikhail Grabovski, and Tom Kostopoulos also scored for Montreal, which has not lost in regulation time in five-straight games and is 14-5-1 since Feb. 13.
With 96 points, the Canadiens equalled their highest point total since 1993-94.
The Canadiens (43-24-10), who finished 10th in the conference last season and were picked by most pundits to miss the post-season again, not only lead the conference (although Pittsburgh has a game in hand), they also have a seven-point separation over Ottawa atop the Northeast Division.
“Now we can enjoy this for a couple of days,” said Montreal captain Saku Koivu. “But you can play as well as you want in the regular season, you still have to be ready for the playoffs.”
Dany Heatley, with two, Antoine Vermette, Martin Lapointe, and Jason Spezza scored for Ottawa.
The Canadiens scored three times in the first period to chase starter Martin Gerber in favour of Ray Emery and held a 7-1 lead after two periods.
But Heatley and Lapointe scored early in the third period, then Heatley slammed Mike Commodore’s long rebound past Carey Price at 9:23.
When Spezza added a power-play goal with 1:58 left to play, it spread a shiver through the sell-out crowd of 21,273. The Senators have won five of seven meetings with Montreal this season.
The teams have one game left to play against each other (April 1 in Ottawa).
Elsewhere in the NHL yesterday, Edmonton beat Minnesota 5-3 and Colorado blanked Calgary 2-0.