Matt Murray made 36 saves and Tim Stutzle recorded a goal and his first two NHL assists to lead the visiting Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

The victory snapped a nine-game (0-8-1) winless drought for the Senators, who won for the first time since a season-opening 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 15.

The North Division-leading Canadiens suffered their second (7-2-2) regulation loss of the season.

The Senators held on despite being outshot 18-5 during a frantic third period that saw Montreal's Josh Anderson score a short-handed goal with 89 seconds remaining on the clock.

Stutzle continued his excellent rookie season by scoring in his third consecutive game. The third overall pick of the 2020 draft has four goals and two assists over his first eight NHL games.

Thomas Chabot had a goal and an assist for the Senators. Connor Brown scored Ottawa's other goal.

Brendan Gallagher also scored for Montreal and Phillip Danault collected two assists.

The Canadiens outshot the Senators 38-22 on Thursday but were hampered by multiple shots off the post, four scoreless power-play chances and Murray's best performance of the season.

Murray stopped 36 of 38 shots for his second win. It was a much-needed breakout game for Murray, who had posted a 4.82 goals against average over his first seven outings.

After Gallagher's score gave Montreal the early lead at 10:31 of the first period, the Senators jumped ahead by scoring twice in the period's final 40 seconds.

At the 19:21 mark, Chabot equalized for Ottawa after ringing a wrist shot off the post and into the net. Just 19 seconds later, Stutzle finished off a nice set of passes with the go-ahead goal during a power play.

Brown's first goal of the season extended Ottawa's lead at 8:12 of the second period. Brown tipped in Erik Brannstrom's shot from just inside the blue line.

Anderson's goal was the Canadiens' seventh short-handed score of the season.

Montreal's Carey Price stopped 19 of 22 shots.

The two teams meet again on Saturday in Ottawa.

--Field Level Media