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Cristobal Huet eyeballs a flying puck.
Christopher Pike, Reuters

UPDATED with link to Pat Hickey's game story

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This one had all the makings of a great game, which too often winds up spelling dull with a capital D.

But who knew we'd witness playoff-quality hockey on a Saturday afternoon ... in November?

The scoreboard showed a final of 3-1 in favour of the Ottawa Senators over the Canadiens at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa-suburban Kanata. But the victory was shared by any fan who invested their afternoon in this one.

Ottawa's Chris Neil surprised Canadiens goalie Cristobal Huet with an unassisted wrist shot from the deep slot at 16:30 to give the Senators the victory. An insurance goal was scored into an empty net in the dying seconds by captain Daniel Alfredsson, who has put four of his 13 goals this season into an empty net.

The Senators outshot their visitors 37-29.

The quite terrific Canadiens, now 9-4-3 who were 7-1-1 in their last nine games, and the remarkable 14-2-0 Senators, their eight-game winning streak snapped on Thursday, engaged in something pretty classic. We might not see something this good for months.

Updated by Kevin Mio with links to Pat Hickey's game story
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A crucial 5-on-3 penalty kill late in the third period allowed the Canadiens to leave Boston with a 2-1 win over the Bruins on Thursday night in the first game of a four-game road trip. With Mike Komisarek and Francis Bouillon in the box, the Habs were able to kill off a two-man disadvantage for 1:57 with about seven minutes remaining. Carey Price got the win for the Canadiens and stopped 28 of the 29 shots Boston fired his way, while Tomas Plekanec and Alex Kovalev beat Tim Thomas for all the goals Montreal would need. Linemate Andrei Kostitsyn had a pair of assists on the night.

After a slow start in the first period, the Canadiens got the game’s first goal when Plekanec slipped a puck between Thomas's pads and Kovalev made sure it crossed the line with less than three minutes left in the period.

Canadiens' Michael Ryder is photographed from overhead in the Bell Centre during tonight's pre-game warmup.
André Ringuette, NHLI via Getty Images

Cristobal Huet keeps a close eye on the action.
Dave Sandford, NHLI via Getty Images

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Tomas Plekanec provided the Canadiens with all the offence they needed tonight – thanks to the goaltending of Cristobal Huet.

Plekanec's goal a little more than midway through the second period and Huet's stellar work in the Montreal net lifted the Canadiens to a 2-0 victory over the visiting Buffalo Sabres to close out a four-game Bell Centre homestand.

First-star Huet earned his 14th career shutout, making 29 saves. The Canadiens had 19 shots on the Sabres, including a late goal by Bryan Smolinski, his second of the season, who iced the victory with an empty-netter at 19:38.

Canadiens' Bryan Smolinski and goalie Cristobal Huet combine to stop Toronto captain Mats Sundin tonight at the Bell Centre.
André Ringuette, NHLI via Getty Images

Canadiens' Mike Komisarek takes Toronto's Simon Gamache into the boards.
Christinne Muschi, Reuters

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Canadiens fans don't like their team losing. But they like their team losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs perhaps least of all.

Toronto's Matt Stajan scored on a long shot that appeared to deflect off the stick of Montreal defenceman Mark Streit past goalie Cristobal Huet with 1:34 left to play tonight, giving the Maple Leafs a 3-2 victory.

The Leafs are perfect against the Canadiens after two games this season, having beaten Montreal 4-3 in overtime in the Canadiens' first game of the year.

Montreal fell to 7-3-0 with the loss, Toronto snapped a two-game losing skid to improve to 6-6-3. And give full credit for the Leafs victory to their goalie, Vesa Toskala, who stopped 32 Canadiens shots.

Huet faced 31 from Toronto shooters and would like to have a couple of them back.

Canadiens goalie Cristobal Huet stones Flyers' Scott Hartnell on this scoring attempt.
Dave Sandford, Getty Images

Canadiens' Mike Komisarek tangles with Hartnell during first-period action. Komisarek was a physical presence all night long for Montreal.
Christinne Muschi, Reuters

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The Philadelphia Flyers weren't so bad after all. Or, maybe the Canadiens were simply that good.

The Habs scored twice at even strength, twice on their league-leading power play and once more while shorthanded, outshooting the Flyers 41-19 to defeat their visitors 5-2 before the usual 21,273-fan sellout at the Bell Centre.

Montreal improved their record to 7-2-3, while the Atlanta Division-leading Flyers, playing their fourth in an eight-game road trip, dropped to 7-4-0.

Christopher Higgins pounced on a rebound off a Mark Streit slap shot at 16:42 of the third period, the Canadiens enjoying a 5-on-3 advantage, to put the Habs up 5-1.

Canadiens goalie Carey Price drops to make a save against the Thrashers.
Christinne Muschi, Reuters

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The Canadiens' four-game winning streak came to an end tonight – in a shootout.

The Atlanta Thrashers, dominant through the first half of the game, scored twice on Canadiens goalie Carey Price in the shootout, the Habs getting just one on Atlanta's Johan Hedberg at the other end. The visitors were full value for their 3-2 victory.

Price was beaten first by Bryan Little, then Ilya Kovalchuk, after having stopped Vyacheslav Kozlov. Hedberg stopped Tomas Plekanec, was deked beautifully by Saku Koivu for a goal, then ran Alex Kovalev out of ice on the must-score effort of the Habs forward.

Christopher Higgins had converted a perfect pass from Koivu at 18:02 of the third period, pulling the glacier-fast-starting Habs into a 2-2 tie.

Higgins's goal, his fourth of the season, was the Canadiens' NHL-best 19th power-play score this year.

Canadiens hero Andrei Markov celebrates his game-winning, shootout goal tonight vs. Pittsburgh.
Jason Cohn, Reuters

UPDATING THROUGHOUT THE GAME WITH PHOTOS

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Defenceman Andrei Markov scored on the Canadiens' eighth shootout attempt, Habs goaltender Carey Price stopping all eight Pittsburgh attempts, to lift the Canadiens to a 4-3 victory over the Penguins at Mellon Arena tonight. The victory runs Montreal's winning streak to four games and completes a perfect back-to-back weekend, having beaten the Carolina Hurricanes 7-4 Friday night in Raleigh, N.C.

It was Markov's second goal of the game, having scored a power-play marker in the first period, the winner a backhand that eluded Pittsburgh goalie Dany Sabourin.

It was the only one of 16 shootout tries to beat either goalie.

Montreal outshot Pittsburgh 28-23, 3-1 in the overtime period.

Canadiens' Steve Bégin scores his first goal of the season, directing a pass from Tom Kostopoulos past Boston goalie Manny Fernandez.
Phillip MacCallum, Getty Images

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Canadiens goalie Cristobal Huet makes a sensational, rebound pad save on Bruins' Glen Murray off a 2-on-1, first-period break.
Phillip MacCallum, Getty Images

It should be a very happy week around the Bell Centre.

The Canadiens can, and should, savour their performance of tonight, a thoroughly dominant 6-1 victory over the Boston Bruins, a team that arrived in Montreal with a 5-2-0 record and two points up on their Northeast Division rivals.

They left well beaten, and tied in the standings. The Canadiens, meanwhile, enjoyed their second consecutive victory on home ice after having dropped three straight games.

The Canadiens (4-2-2) now have a few days to prepare for their first back-to-back games of this young season, facing the Hurricanes in Carolina on Friday and the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Saturday. They'll be back on Bell Centre ice next Tuesday against Atlanta.

You can't say he doesn't backcheck: Canadiens centre Tomas Plekanec dives across goaltender Cristobal Huet to keep a Buffalo shot out of the Montreal goal.
Phillip MacCallum, Getty Images

Canadiens defenceman Mike Komisarek (right) tangles with Buffalo's Ales Kotalik along the boards.
Christiine Muschi, Reuters

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The Canadiens no longer are winless at home.

First star Roman Hamrlik scored at 12:38 of the third period tonight, then Christopher Higgins found an empty Buffalo net with 24.9 seconds left to play, lifting Montreal to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Sabres.

The Canadiens were 3-1 losers to Carolina in their home opener last Saturday before dropping a 2-1 shootout decision to Florida on Tuesday. And then they were on the short end of a 4-3 game in Ottawa on Thursday, so tonight's win was most welcome, snapping a three-game losing streak.

Hamrlik, Montreal's free-agent defence signing upon the departure of blueliner Sheldon Souray, provided the Canadiens with the winning goal with Montreal enjoying a two-man advantage, Buffalo's Drew Stafford and Brian Campbell serving minors. It wasn't pretty; he was given credit for the winner after his shot caromed off the end boards and found its way in off Buffalo defenceman Toni Lydman.

The goal was first credited to Higgins, who appeared to chip it past Sabres goalie Ryan Miller from the corner of the crease, but the call was changed to Hamrlik.

Canadiens' Patrice Brisebois (let) celebrates with teammate Christopher Higgins after Higgins's goal.
Dave Sidaway, Gazette

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Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward did a good job imitating a 6x4-foot piece of plywood tonight, stealing the Canadiens blind – when he had to – while lifting his team to a 3-1 victory over Montreal.

Ward's work, combined with the dominant effort of his teammates in front of the usual 21,273 sellout attending the Canadiens' 2007-08 home opener, made for an unhappy night on Bell Centre ice.

Montreal goaltender Cristobal Huet did all that was expected of him and more, making 35 saves on 37 shots. The Hurricanes iced the victory with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Montreal had only eight shots through two periods, then bombarded Ward with 16 in the final 20 minutes.

Cory Stillman, Matt Cullen and Chad Larose (into an empty-net) scored for Carolina, who improved their record to 4-1-1. Christopher Higgins replied for the Canadiens, who fall to 2-1-1.

Carolina's win avenges Montreal's 3-2 victory on Hurricanes ice on Oct. 3, their home opener.

The Carolina Hurricanes are the guests for the Canadiens' home opener Saturday, and they have the might to break up a good party. The 'Canes smoked the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-1 on Tuesday, then last night beat the heretofore unbeaten Ottawa Senators, 5-3. The good news? Montreal beat Carolina 3-2 in overtime on Oct. 3, the first game of the regular season for both clubs.

Today's Montreal Gazette has a special NHL preview section where Red Fisher, Pat Hickey and Jack Todd look at what is to come during the 2007-08 season for the Canadiens and across the league. Get Red's predictions on where the Canadiens will finish this season and where he thinks the other 29 teams will rank. View the entire section here.

In its team-by-team analyses of the 30 clubs, NHL.com presents the Canadiens. Use the links at the top of the main page for the site's position-by-position look.

In its team-by-team analyses of the 30 clubs, NHL.com presents the Canadiens. Use the links at the top of the main page for the site's position-by-position look.

Here's how the NHL is previewing the Canadiens in a preseason media package distributed today.