Brendan Gallagher scored in the first period and Carey Price made 43 saves as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Ottawa Senators 2-0 to advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs on Sunday night.
   Montreal won the best of seven series 4-2, but lost two in a row after taking a 3-0 series lead.
   "We knew it wouldn't be easy right from the start," said Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban. "I liked the way we won. We had to work for it."
   Max Pacioretty sealed the win with an empty-net goal with one second remaining.
   "Advancing is such a great feeling but we have to be honest, we got some bounces tonight," said Pacioretty. "They poured it on us pretty good and Carey was a wall back there."
   Price, nominated for the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goalie and perhaps a candidate for most valuable player honours, rebounded after allowing five goals in game 5 with a masterful effort as Ottawa outshot the Canadiens 43-20.
   Montreal, which reached the Eastern Conference final last spring, is in the second round for a second year in a row for the first time since 1992 and 1993.
   After controlling the early going, the Canadiens got the first goal for the first time in the series when Gallagher took a high Greg Pateryn shot off his body and batted it past Craig Anderson at 13:26.
   Montreal had the first six shots of the game but the Senators outshot them 16-3 in a dominant second in which they did everything but score.
   The 20,500 fans at the Canadian Tire Centre were screaming for a too many men on the ice call against Montreal when perhaps a worse omission occurred as referee Chris Lee blew a quick whistle just before Jean-Gabriel Pageau put a puck in at 6:55 that had fallen past Price.
   With Senators legend Daniel Alfredsson cheering from a luxury box, Ottawa went all out in the third for the equalizer but Montreal finished with strong checking and two or three more solid saves from Price.
   A late tripping call on Jacob de la Rose gave Ottawa a last chance on the power play, and near the end of it pulled Anderson for a two-skater advantage.