NHL Game Summary - Montreal at Ottawa

Ottawa, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Faint though it may be, the Ottawa Senators still have a pulse.

The Senators staved off elimination Wednesday with a 1-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

Mike Hoffman broke a scoreless tie at 9:05 of the third period, and Craig Anderson made 28 saves for his third career postseason shutout.

Carey Price stopped 31 shots for a Canadiens team that was bidding to sweep a first-round series for a second straight year.

Montreal has a second chance to dispatch Ottawa at home on Friday.

The Senators were able to break through after a failed clear by the Canadiens.

"That's all we said after the second period, just stick with it," said Senators coach Dave Cameron. "We did and got the result we wanted."

Cody Ceci kept the puck in the Montreal zone and chipped it to Hoffman, who scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.

Price had trouble seeing the shot because of a screen in front by Mika Zibanejad.

"I didn't get a good look at it, but I got to try and fight to see it," Price said.

The second period started with a lot of offensive zone time for Ottawa.

Price made a glove save on Mark Stone -- playing through a microfracture in his wrist -- and turned aside Hoffman's bid from in close. Hoffman had a deflection go just wide of the net late in the first period.

Ottawa's pressure ultimately led to a power play, but Montreal killed it off.

The Senators were called for a questionable penalty on a faceoff violation near the midpoint of the second. After registering no shots on its first two power plays in the game, Montreal pelted Anderson with five shots, and he stopped them all, including a blocker save on Max Pacioretty.

Montreal's Brandon Prust had a short-handed breakaway with under five minutes left in the second, but Anderson came up big again to keep the game scoreless.