Pascal Leclaire #33 of the Ottawa Senators is upended by David Desharnaid #58 and Alex Henry #24 of the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on September 24, 2010 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Andrei Kostitsyn and Mathieu Darche each scored in the second period Friday as the Canadiens downed the Ottawa Senators 4-2 for Montreal's first win of the pre-season.
P.K Subban and Dustin Boyd also scored for the Habs, while Mike Fisher and Ryan Keller scored for the Senators.
The Senators opened the scoring 4:16 into the first period when Peter Regin sent a pass into the slot to a wide open Fisher, who put the puck past Canadiens goalie Alex Auld.
Alex Kovalev picked up an assist on the goal in his first game since having knee surgery at the end of last season.
The Canadiens evened the score when Scott Gomez stopped to set up in the offensive zone and made a pass to Subban who hammered a one-timer past Sens goalie Pascal Leclaire.
Montreal took its first lead midway through the second when Chris Phillips turned the puck over to an unmanned Kostitsyn who made no mistake.
Darche scored on the power play to put the Canadiens up by a pair, but that lead was short lived.
The Senators pulled within one with just over a minute left in the second period, with Keller beating goalie Robert Mayer on a quick shot in front of the net.
Boyd added some insurance in the third period for the Canadiens, deflecting an Alex Henry point shot to complete the scoring.
Auld made 11 saves on 12 shots before Mayer came in midway through the second period and turned aside 18 of 19 shots.
The Senators elected to keep Leclaire in for the full 60 minutes. He made 24 saves on 28 shots.
Lars Eller and Ian Schultz - who were acquired from the St Louis Blues in an off-season trade for goalie Jaroslav Halak - made their debuts with the Canadiens.
Although listed as a centre, Eller played left wing on a line with Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta and didn't register a point.
The Canadiens improved their pre-season record to 1-1-0 and the Senators dropped to 1-2-0.
Notes: Daniel Alfredson, Jason Spezza and Sergei Gonchar didn't dress for the Senators. ... The two teams will play again Saturday night at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.