Ottawa, ON, Canada

Rookie center Jean-Gabriel Pageau recorded a hat trick as the Ottawa Senators trounced the Montreal Canadiens, 6-1, to grab a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at Scotiabank Place.

With his scoring barrage, Pageau surpassed his two-goal output in nine career NHL regular-season games but lost a tooth in the second period of a physical game marred by 14 fights and eight game misconducts.

Pageau was the first Senator to tally a hat trick since Daniel Alfredsson did it twice in the 1998 playoffs.

The Senators also got goals from Alfredsson, Kyle Turris and Jakob Silfverberg while netminder Craig Anderson stopped 33 of 34 shots

The Canadiens got their lone goal from Rene Bourque while goaltender Carey Price went the distance with 24 saves.

Capitalizing on their two-man advantage, the Senators opened scoring with their first power-play goal of the series. Sergei Gonchar found Alfredsson, who recovered his own miss for his first playoff goal and the 48th of his career.

The Canadiens tied it up with a power play goal of their own when Bourque got a weak shot off from the slot past Anderson at 14:34 of the second.

Pageau gave Ottawa a 2-1 lead at 4:40 of the second and made it 3-1 at 1:18 before Turris scored at 7:00 of the third period to put the game out of reach.

Silfverberg's second goal of the series came eight seconds later at 7:08 before Pageau completed the trifecta with a power play goal at 18:02 of the third.

 

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Jean-Gabriel Pageau Hat Trick Powers Senators past Canadiens