Colisée Vidéotron felt like the Bell Centre on Monday night. A near red-out crowd, Michel Lacroix — the same PA voice Canadiens fans have heard for 33 years — calling out every penalty, every goal, every final minute of the period. And in the end, the Canadiens delivered exactly the kind of finish that night deserved: a 3-2 overtime win over the Ottawa Senators to close out the celebration of Saint-Boniface, Quebec’s Kraft Hockeyville win.

It was Cole Caufield again. Two nights after beating Toronto in overtime at the Bell Centre, he did it a second time — his second goal of the night, at 3:19 of the extra frame, to send a packed building home happy.

The Game

It didn’t take long for the building to get loud both ways. William Eklund, playing his first game in a Senators sweater since arriving from San Jose in the June 23 trade, opened the scoring just 1:29 into the first period off a feed from Dylan Cozens. The Canadiens answered less than four minutes later — Jayden Struble, left alone in the left face-off circle after the Habs worked the puck out from behind the Ottawa net, beat Samuel Ersson with a wrist shot to tie it 1-1.

Cozens put the Senators back in front late in the second period. Jakub Dobeš turned away a point shot from Nikolas Matinpalo, but Cozens fought off Juraj Slafkovský for position in front of the net and lifted the rebound over Dobeš’s shoulder to make it 2-1 heading into the third.

That’s when Caufield went to work. He tied it 2-2 on a give-and-go with Lane Hutson on the power play at 11:59 of the third.

Watch it: @CanadiensMTL

He wasn’t done. Caufield finished it in overtime with a wrist shot from the blocker side that beat Ersson — his second goal of the night and the game-winner.

Watch it: @CanadiensMTL

Samuel Montembeault and Dobeš combined for 18 saves for the Canadiens. Ersson made 33 saves in a losing effort, including 11 in the third period to give Ottawa its chance in overtime. Eklund and Ersson were both making their Senators debuts, Ersson having arrived in a June 26 trade with Toronto.

Coach’s Take: Caufield and Hutson, Again

This is becoming a habit. Last Saturday it was a two-on-none with Hutson setting up Caufield for the overtime winner against Toronto. Monday it was different — a few touches between Suzuki, Caufield and Hutson before Caufield beat Ersson blocker-side — but the result was the same. That’s his third goal in two preseason games, and his second overtime winner in as many chances.

Caufield already leads this franchise in overtime goals, and it’s not hard to see why. He has a way of finding something out of nothing — that shot was accurate and had real power behind it. Nobody who watched him score 51 goals last season should be surprised by that anymore. Hutson, for his part, is up to 5 points through two preseason games. When Caufield scores, more often than not, Hutson had a hand in it.

Florian Xhekaj Is Making This Hard on MSL

Xhekaj was the best Canadiens player on the ice Monday. He set up Struble’s opening goal with a big hit behind the net, then kept delivering heavy minutes at center the rest of the way. That’s back-to-back strong games after a good one Saturday. It’s getting genuinely difficult to picture the Canadiens sending him back to Laval at the end of camp.

A Quieter Night for Reinbacher and Montembeault

Neither had the game they had Saturday, but both were still solid overall. Reinbacher was sharp in the first period, then ran into some defensive-zone trouble over the final 40 minutes. Montembeault allowed his first goal of the preseason on just 8 shots against — he’ll want that one back, beaten to the front of the net after Eklund got past Arber Xhekaj — but he’s now stopped 20 of 21 shots he’s faced this preseason. He’s got one more game to lock down the backup job.

Dach’s Problem Is Still the Same One

Kirby Dach had a bad night, and at this point, is anyone really surprised? It’s the same issue it’s always been with him — intensity. I’m not sure he realizes he needs to bring it every single game, but he didn’t Monday, and the trade and healthy-scratch talk is starting back up because of it. Xhekaj is pushing him for a spot in the top 12 forwards right now. Dach has one more game to save his own — if I were him, I’d be nervous.

What’s Coming Saturday

The Canadiens play a split-squad doubleheader Saturday — one game in Montreal, one in Ottawa — the same setup as last week’s night against Toronto. A lot gets decided after that. Jacob Fowler and Adam Engström’s situations depend entirely on what Reinbacher and Montembeault do between now and then, and MSL doesn’t want to carry 14 forwards into the season. We should know more about Jake Evans’ injury soon — if he’s out longer, Dach could end up a healthy scratch to open the year with Xhekaj taking his spot instead.

But Monday wasn’t really about any of that. The real winners were the hockey fans who packed the building for Hockeyville. “It was loud and noisy inside, like the Bell Centre,” Ivan Demidov said of the atmosphere. Nick Suzuki put it best afterward: “It’s fun to give back to hockey fans like them. The fans deserved it.” From puck drop to the final horn, it was a night Saint-Boniface won’t forget.

— Coach Frenchy