Ottawa's Alexei Kovalev heard the cheers (and boos) from the Bell Centre faithful, then got down to business, assisting on the game-winning goal and scoring an insurance marker to lead the Senators past the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 on Saturday night.
"It's a great feeling, coming back [to] the building that you played in and just seeing all your fans," he told Hockey Night in Canada's Cassie Campbell-Pascall after the game. "It's a little different because you're playing for the other team."
The Sens jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first before Montreal (2-5-0) tied it at the end of the frame.
Ottawa regained the lead early in the second and added another in the third to round out the scoring.
Daniel Alfredsson and Chris Neil scored the other goals for the Senators (5-2-0), while Mike Cammalleri replied by scoring his first goal in a Canadiens uniform.
The Senators received another solid performance from goaltender Pascal Leclaire, who held the fort in the first period as Montreal pressed. The 26-year-old made 27 saves overall.
Habs goaltender Carey Price stopped 18 shots in a losing cause.
Montreal lost its fifth straight game, while Ottawa has won five of its last six contests.
"Fans expect us to win games, so in that sense their reaction is not unexpected," Cammalleri said. "If I was a fan, I wouldn't be happy, either."
Kovalev cheered
The home team had a clear advantage in the early going but didn't have anything to show for it, and the Sens drew first blood at 9:16 of the first.
Mike Fisher found Neil in the slot with a pass and the 30-year-old fired the puck by Price for his second goal of the season. It came on Ottawa's second shot of the game.
The Canadiens tied the game with 27 seconds left in the first. Newcomer Cammalleri scored his first in a Montreal uniform when his bad-angle shot bounced into the air and past a sprawling Leclaire.
Montreal outshot Ottawa 13-3 in the first.
Things got worse for the Habs at 4:44 of the second when Alfredsson scored on a one-timer during a 5-on-3 man advantage.
Kovalev found the Swede with one of his patented seeing-eye passes in the slot and the Sens captain made no mistake to put Ottawa up 2-1.
Penalty trouble kept Montreal on the back foot for most of the second as the Habs took four penalties in the period compared with the Senators' one.
Kovalev struck again at 11:28 of the third for the dagger. The former Canadien fired a shot by Price for his third of the season and second point of the game.
After the goal, a smattering of cheers was heard in the Bell Centre as some of the Habs faithful saluted their former player.
He spent five tumultuous seasons in Montreal before signing with Ottawa last summer, a two-year deal worth $10 million US.
"It's part of our job," Kovalev said. "You never know where you're going to end up. It could've been Montreal, it could've been anywhere, but I went to Ottawa."
