Mike Hoffman scored in the third period and Craig Anderson made 28 saves for the shutout as the Ottawa Senators downed the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 on Wednesday night to stay alive in their first-round NHL playoff series.

Montreal leads the best-of-seven series 3-1 and can wrap it up on home ice Friday night.

Coach Dave Cameron had moved Hoffman, a rookie, from the fourth line up to the second unit with Mika Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan during the first period.

It paid off in the third as Cody Ceci kept a Tom Gilbert clearing attempt in at the point and fed Hoffman in the left circle for quick shot that beat Carey Price 9:05 into the third period.

It was the fourth straight game the Senators scored first, but this time, the Canadiens didn't answer back. An anaemic power play that has gone 1 for 16 in the series hasn't helped their cause.

"It was a big hockey game," said Montreal coach Michel Therrien. "It was very close. The two teams played very hard. They got the last word tonight, but we have no reason to be embarrassed about our performance. I think we worked very hard as well."

Anderson, who made 47 saves in his series debut in Game 3, was strong again for the Senators as they outshot Montreal 32-28. He sprawled to force Brandon Prust to slam the puck against the side of the net during a short-handed breakaway late in the second.

There was choppy play for two scoreless periods. The Senators did not spend as much energy early on seeking big heats as in the previous three games, while Montreal simply did not look sharp.

Ottawa had the better chances on two second-period power plays, with Price stoning Hoffman from the doorstep and then robbing Clarke MacArthur from the slot.

Midway through the second period, Ottawa was on the wrong end of a rarely called faceoff violation penalty. After Zibanejad was tossed out of the faceoff circle, Hoffman knocked the puck out of the linesman's hand before the puck was dropped. Two false starts by one team drew the penalty.

Only four teams have come back to win when trailing 0-3 in a series: Toronto in 1942, the New York Islanders in 1975, Philadelphia in 2010 and Los Angeles in 2014.

Notes: Ottawa injected some speed with Zach Smith at fourth line centre replacing David Legwand. Chris Neil played a second game in place of Alex Chiasson, with Nathan Beaulieu out with an upper-body injury, Montreal dressed Greg Pateryn on defence.