MONTREAL - Struggling to find the back of the net of late, the Montreal Canadiens finally found a way to finish against the Ottawa Senators.

The Canadiens scored twice in the first period and added another early in the second for a lead they would never relinquish in a 3-1 win over Ottawa on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

"Lesson learned that we can't get away from our game and what makes us successful," said Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty, whose late first-period tally ultimately stood as the game-winner. "I saw a quote that said 'To win, you have to know how to lose' and I really like that because we learned a lot from those four games. We showed it tonight.

"Obviously it's not perfect, getting hemmed in a couple of times in the second, but we build off that and we move forward from this game on."

The win snapped Montreal's four-game losing streak.

Center Brian Flynn and defenseman Jeff Petry also scored for Montreal.

Center Jean-Gabriel Pageau connected for the Senators (15-10-5).

Goaltender Dustin Tokarski, making his second straight start, stopped 24 shots for the Canadiens (20-8-3). Craig Anderson made 28 saves for Ottawa and Chris Driedger stopped 11 shots in relief.

Flynn's fourth goal of the season started the scoring. Defenseman Nathan Beaulieu picked up the puck along the left boards and skated around the net before taking a shot that hit Anderson's pads and went through Erik Karlsson's legs to Flynn at the other side of the net. An uncovered Flynn made no mistake with the open side of the net at 2:48 of the first period.

The Canadiens dominated the first period, outshooting Ottawa 27-8, and were rewarded with 33 seconds remaining.

Right winger Dale Weise kept the puck in at the blue line before dishing to center Tomas Plekanec, who fed Pacioretty at the top of the right circle. The Canadiens' captain sniped a wrister from the dot to put Montreal up 2-0 after 20 minutes.

"It was big," Plekanec said. "We needed to get that two-goal lead to have a little more breathing room, to play with that lead and finish it off."

Anderson was visibly frustrated after the goal, with a strong whack of his stick on the post.

"Wouldn't you be?" coach Dave Cameron said. "He had every right to be upset with how we defended tonight."

Petry extended the Habs' lead at 5:39 of the second on a play that began with the defenseman forcing a turnover in the Canadiens' end. That pushed the puck up to center Alex Galchenyuk, who skated into the Senators' zone before sending the puck to Weise just inside the blue line. Weise didn't hold on long, dropping a pass to a trailing Petry, who fired it from the high slot.

Shortly thereafter, Pacioretty appeared to have his second goal of the night after a scramble in front, but video review confirmed he had batted it in with his glove. That didn't stop Ottawa coach Dave Cameron from making a goaltending switch, replacing Anderson with Driedger.

Pageau got the Senators on the board at 11:24. Right winger Alex Chiasson took a pass from Pageau in the neutral zone before skating in and shooting on Tokarski from the high slot. The Canadiens' netminder made the save but gave up a rebound that Pageau, coming in with speed, deposited the puck into the back of the net.

It was Pageau's third goal against Montreal this season and the fourth overall by his team in three meetings.

"We were down two goals," Ottawa center Zack Smith said. "It's two shots. It wasn't something we couldn't come back from. But it was tough to rally back. They were playing some good hockey and stingy hockey, throwing everything at the net and going hard to the net. We couldn't quite match that tonight."

NOTES: The Canadiens made one lineup change from their last game, re-inserting D Nathan Beaulieu while D Greg Pateryn sat as a healthy scratch alongside D Jarred Tinordi and RW Christian Thomas. ... Ottawa LW Shane Prince was a healthy scratch for the third straight game. ... Senators C Mika Zibanejad suited up for his 229th career game, moving him into sole possession of 40th place on Ottawa's all-time list, at just 22 years old. ... Montreal C Tomas Plekanec appeared in his 792nd NHL game, tying him with former Canadiens captain Saku Koivu for 20th on the team's all-time list.