Canadiens 7, Senators 1 .

OTTAWA - Tomas Plekanec scored twice and Max Pacioretty and Andrei Kostitsyn each had a goal and an assist, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 7-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Friday night.

Benoit Pouliot, Brian Gionta and P.K. Subban also scored and Carey Price made 33 saves to help Montreal improve to 7-1-2 in its last 10 games. Chris Kelly scored for Ottawa, 0-4-1 in its last five.

Pouliot and Plekanec scored 1:52 apart to give the Canadiens an early 2-0 lead. Gionta made it 3-1 with his 16th early in the second. Pacioretty scored on a power play moments later to chase Mike Brodeur, who stopped 11 of 15 in his first start of the season.

Plekanec beat Brian Elliott midway through the middle period for his second goal of the game, his 16th, tying Gionta for the team lead for the second time in the game. Kostitsyn increased the lead to 6-1 early in the third and Subban scored Montreal's second power-play goal later in the period.

Kelly scored midway through the first to draw Ottawa within 2-1. Elliott, who was replaced by Brodeur one night earlier, made 17 saves for the Senators.

Ottawa, which has lost six in a row at home, is last in the Northeast Division with 41 points.

Matt Carkner and Jarkko Ruutu were both sidelined by lower-body injuries suffered in the Senators' loss in Philadelphia on Thursday night.

Pouliot scored his 10th goal 1:53 into the first and Plekanec made it 2-0 with his 15th at 3:45.

Kelly gave Ottawa some hope at 9:20 when he put Chris Campoli's pass home from the edge of the crease for his 10th goal.

Scott Gomez got the first of his two assists when he set up Gionta's goal 1:12 into the second.

Pacioretty, who also assisted on Gionta's goal, snapped a shot past Brodeur at 5:33 to make it 4-1.

NOTES: Canadiens C Andreas Engqvist, who was called up from Hamilton of the AHL on Wednesday, made his NHL debut. RW Ryan White made his season debut after he was recalled from Hamilton on Thursday. White has two assists in 16 games with Montreal last season ... Senators RW Alex Kovalev returned after missing six games because of a knee injury ... Ottawa faces the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Place (7:30 p.m., Sportsnet East, Team 1200), its final game before the all-star break.