Montreal

MONTREAL -- The Hamburglar and the Senators stole away another two points Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

After spotting the Montreal Canadiens a 2-0 first-period lead, Andrew “The Hamburglar” Hammond shut the door and his teammates did the rest. Mark Stone scored the third-period winner to give the Senators a 5-2 victory as Carey Price couldn’t save the day.

While Hammond made 27 stops to move his record to 8-0-1 in nine starts, Erik Karlsson led the charge with two goals — including one in the third. Marc Methot and Erik Condra also chipped in as the Senators tried to stay within striking distance of the Boston Bruins for the final playoff spot in the East.

The Senators cannot explain Hammond’s success.

“(Hammond’s) played terrific hockey for us,” said Methot, who scored for the first time since March 10, 2014.

“We seem to play and rally around him a little bit since he’s been up here. I don’t know what it is. We’ve just got to keep doing (it).”

Stone’s 17th of the season on the power play was his ninth third-period goal this season and it came at a perfect time for the Senators. He tipped a Patrick Wiercioch shot by Price with Tomas Plekanec off for tripping at 1:23 of the third to give the Senators the lead.

Only Max Pacioretty was able to beat Hammond — twice — in the first and then he kept his streak intact of not giving up more than two goals with the exception of a 3-2 shootout loss in Minnesota.

The significance of this start was not lost on The Hamburglar.

“It was rough early on and we really couldn’t get anything going,” said Hammond.

“To give them a two-goal lead, I thought we showed a lot of fight and just kept going. Once we turned the tide, we got momentum and they were getting a bit frustrated. We were able to keep it that way.

“There wasn’t a lot said (after the first). It was just about getting the next goal. We knew if we got the next one, we’d be in the game. There was still 40 minutes left. There wasn’t any panic in here.”

He had to come up big in the third when Matt Puempel was given a double-minor for high sticking P.A. Parenteau.

It was the second four-minute power play the Habs had and Hammond made a huge stop on David Desharnais. Just as the power play ended, Karlsson put it away.

The Senators erased a two-goal deficit with a strong second.

As always, Jean-Gabriel Pageau came up big against the Habs when Condra had the puck deflect off his skate going to the net and by Price with only 1:39 left in the second to tie it up 2-2.

The Senators had been the better team and Hammond made the stops when he was tested.

Only 2:50 into the second, Karlsson pulled the Senators to within a goal with his 17th.

He took a pass from David Legwand in the slot and fired a blast by Price to serve notice this night wouldn’t be easy for the Habs.

“We’ve been managing to play some resilient hockey over the last month and I’m not surprised we put up the effort we did,” said Methot.

“It’s funny, at this stage of the season confidence is everything. We know how to play the game at this point and just getting the odd goal to get the team in the game was the difference.”

Quick burst

The Habs struck for two goals in a span of 2:11 during the first period.

One was shorthanded and the other came on the power play.

Skating in alone, Pacioretty went upstairs with his backhand on a helpless Hammond to give the Habs a 2-0 lead at 8:54. Pacioretty opened the scoring on the power play.

“We showed character like we have in the past. We were down 2-0 in Montreal and we showed what we had by coming back,” said Pageau.

“We showed we can do it and we’ve proved we can play with the best teams.”

This was a tough night. Winger Bobby Ryan slammed into the boards and was slow getting up but remained in the game.

Defenceman Mark Borowiecki took a puck in the face in the third and returned.

The Senators face the New York Islanders Friday to wrap up this two-game road swing.

bruce.garrioch@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @sungarrioch

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