MONTREAL - After telling everyone who would listen that he's been more than ready to return to the lineup for over a week, Alex Kovalev proved his point in the Canadiens' 4-3 shootout win over the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.

With Jose Theodore, Saku Koivu, Richard Zednik and Tomas Plekanec all out of the lineup due to injury, Kovalev picked up the slack with two goals, an assist and a shootout goal, all after missing 13 games following knee surgery.

Holding a 3-0 second period lead, the top-ranked Senators (23-5-3) seemed well on their way to victory, but the Canadiens (17-9-6) refused to go quietly. Kovalev got the ball rolling thanks to a nifty move and a quick shot that almost fooled Dominik Hasek as trailer Niklas Sundstrom buried the rebound to make it 3-1. Kovalev, who wasn't done making history on this night, picked up his 700th NHL career point and earned what wouldn't be his last standing ovation of the evening.

Only two minutes later No. 27 was at it again as he helped set up Michael Ryder for his team-leading 16th goal of the season and fifth in as many games to pull the Canadiens within one, which once again send the capacity crowd into a frenzy upon hearing P.A. announcer Michel Lacroix say Kovalev's name.

"The fans here are unbelievable," said Kovalev. "The feeling and energy in this building and this city are why I decided to come back to Montreal. They have supported me so much since I first got here. I don't know what else to say, the crowd here is really incredible."

Clearly still only getting warmed up, not even a gash on the top of his nose courtesy of an Andrej Meszaros' high-stick could slow Kovalev down. On the ensuing power-play a little over four minutes into the third period, the 32-year-old Russian tied the game with his eighth goal of the season and 300th of his career.

With the remainder of the final frame and overtime solving nothing, the stage was set for more dramatics. Pierre Dagenais and none other than Kovalev beat Hasek during the shootout while the Senators failed to connect on each of their two attempts, wrapping up the Canadiens' first win in four games against the Senators so far this season.

Claude Julien's troops clawed their way back from a 3-0 deficit for the first time since roaring back for a 4-3 overtime win over St. Louis back on Dec. 10, 1997 at the Bell Centre.

"It wasn't just me out there tonight," said Kovalev. "There are 20 guys in this room who gave all they had tonight. This is a big win for us and I think it's going to be really good for our confidence."

After going 4-6-3 during his 13-game absence, the Canadiens are now 13-3-3 with Kovalev in the lineup this season. Needless to say, head coach Julien is thrilled to have him back.

"When Alex first got to Montreal, people didn't know a lot about him and many believed he might be a selfish player, someone who didn't work hard or who was tough to coach, but I can tell you he's been the complete opposite of that," said Julien. "When you see a player like Kovalev, an athlete who is an inspiration to his teammates, especially the young guys and you see how hard he worked to get back on the ice, it says a lot. And he's got so much natural talent that he can play his own game and do it all himself if Alex wanted to, but he doesn't. Instead he's a total team player."

In his first start at home, Cristobal Huet was solid, to say the least.  The night got off to a rough start when Jason Spezza took advantage of a defensive lapse to put the Senators on the board in the game's second minute.  The St. Martin D'Heres, France native rebounded in a hurry, turning aside 34 of Ottawa's 37 shots.  Apart from Spezza, only Meszaros and Zdeno Chara were able to beat Huet, both with the man advantage.

"Cristobal was extraordinary tonight," added Julien.  "Even when he didn't see the puck, he got himself into a good position so that the pucks would hit him.  The Senators have guys who can take a great shot from the blue line and others who are right by the net.  Cristobal did a great job of stopping those shots and when you face Heatley and Alfredsson in a shootout and you don't give them anything, right there, it's a big deal."

Huet couldn't agree more.

"There's no doubt that I've faced my share of shootouts playing in Europe," admitted Huet, who heard the capacity crowd chanting his name as he stopped both Senators shooters he faced, for the Canadiens' second shootout win of the season. "But when you have guys like that coming at you it's a whole new ball game. I don't think anything could have prepared me for that!"

Kovalev's big night came on the same day he made sure to warn the media not too expect too much from him in his first game back after surgery.

"I just said that so you guys would leave me alone," laughed Kovalev. "I've felt like I was ready to go since last week and I'm just happy to be back."

 Judging from the handful of standing ovations he received on Tuesday, the feeling is definitely mutual.

The Canadiens will now close out the calendar year with a five-game road trip, beginning Friday in Washington.

NOTES: The Canadiens were without G Jose Theodore (knee), C Saku Koivu (groin), RW Richard Zednik (flu), Tomas Plekanec (knee) and C Radek Bonk (groin)… Despite being dressed, Mark Streit failed to play a single shift… Tuesday night's matchup with the Senators drew a capacity crowd of 21,273, marking the Canadiens' 18th consecutive sellout of the season and 41st straight overall packed house dating back to 2003-04… Spezza left the game in the first period with a pulled chest muscle and managed only more shift to start the second period…Held off the scoresheet on Tuesday, Mike Ribeiro saw his six-game point streak snapped… With two assists on the night, Andrei Markov extended his point streak to eight games, notching two goals and seven assists in that span…Pierre Dagenais has now scored on both of his shootout opportunities…The Senators are now 17-1-2 when scoring first…The loss marked the first time since a 5-4 OT loss to the Maple Leafs  in February 2004 that Ottawa gave up a three-goal lead…Ottawa is now 21-1-1 when scoring three or more goals this season...

Jan Bulis is a forward for the Montreal Canadiens. 

Hey everyone, welcome to my first diary entry here on canadiens.com.  Hopefully you’ll enjoy reading my random thoughts during the season as much as I enjoy writing them down.

Looking back on the past three months, it was great at the beginning of the season when we were winning pretty much everything, but when you look at the reality, we played well but we kind of got lucky, too.  We won all those one-goal games, pretty much at the end of the game, but now over the past few weeks that run came back to “get” us.  I think the team is struggling a little bit right now but we still have a winning record and we just have to stay positive and take it one game at a time.  It’s true that it’s tough when you’re struggling and of course it’s better when the team is winning, you’re doing well and everything is working well.  Right now, it’s a little bit down in the room but we’re trying to stay positive and looking ahead to win games.

The injuries definitely are a part of the rough couple of weeks.  When you’re missing your two leading scorers and then Markov for a three-game suspension, things obviously get a bit tough.  A couple of other missing guys hurt, too – Komisarek was out, and Bonk is still out.  When you have a strategy on the team, to suddenly lose pieces of your gameplan hurts you.  But what can you do?  You can’t just quit.  You’ve got to play with the guys you have on the team and try to win games like that.

I definitely think Kovalev’s absence was noticeable on and off the ice.  But at the same time, the team’s not about one player.  Even though he is a big part of it, I think what hurt us too is when Sak went down, too, so we were missing two players from our top line and that made it kind of tough.  I would say it hurt the team but it wasn’t only because these guys were out that we’re struggling.  I don’t think that’s it.  It’s not about one player.

No matter who we’ve had in the lineup, Ottawa has given us some great battles all year long so far.  They have a great offensive team and that line of Alfredsson, Spezza and Heatley is something else.  If you have the guys to stop them and do a good job of it in the game, then you should always have a chance to win that game.  They’ve got a good defense and they’ve got Hasek in the net, and I think it’s a pretty good team but I wouldn’t say they’re unstoppable.  Every team is beatable.  It’s just a matter of being ready to play.  If everybody has the will to win it, then I don’t think it should be a problem.

There are a few teams that have caught my eye.  It’s not usually the teams packed with “stars” that I like.  Take Calgary.  I think they have a good team, a good bunch of young guys who work well.  They have a goalie behind them and I think that’s an important thing, too.  If the goalie’s playing great, usually the whole team is playing great, too.  I would say that at this stage Calgary and Ottawa are the two teams I definitely like this year.

This will be my first time as a dad during the holidays, and I can tell you that being a father is awesome.  I would never have expected it to be like this and it’s like nothing else I’ve experienced.  It’s so much fun, you enjoy it so much.  You’d always think being single is awesome, going out, going to parties.  Seriously though, once the kid is born and you kind of see how he’s growing and how much fun it is, you don’t even miss the old days at all.  I’ve got nothing bad to say - it’s been great.

We named our son Jan Jr. because even though we had three or four names in mind, we couldn’t decide.  My wife came up with the idea and said, “Why doesn’t he take your name?”  I said I thought that would be great, I would like that, so we went with that.

My wife Iva and I have been together since I was 20 or 21.  Back then she would just fly back and forth to North America from the Czech Republic during the season.  Since I’ve been 23, though, she’s stayed around for the whole year.  Right now, I’ve been home for most of the time, so I can’t really say that it’s been tough adapting to the NHL schedule with a newborn.  It’s not too bad being away for two or three days.  At the end of the trip, I’m happy to go home and see my son and my wife again.

Since Jan Jr. is only eight months old, this year he’ll be getting pretty much only the things he needs for Christmas, not just toys and stuff, which he has plenty of.  It’s tough, though.  I’m sure my wife will have a hard time trying not to spoil him, even though he doesn’t really understand the holiday yet.  We did the tree a while ago and it’s all dressed up nicely.  He just looks at it, but doesn’t know what it’s about.

I’m not that young anymore, so it’s not like I’ll go looking for my presents under the Christmas tree and wondering what they’ll be.  For the past four or five years, I pretty much tell my wife to get me something I can use.  I usually tell her I don’t need any presents as long as the food is good.  I appreciate good Czech food, Christmas food and all the things that go with it.

Back home in Europe, we do a gift exchange on Christmas Eve.  That’s what I found different in the U.S.  At home on the 24th we have the big dinner where you don’t even eat lunch that day.  That way you’re hungry for the big fried fish - usually carp - some schnitzel, and potato salad.  If you eat lunch, maybe you have a bit of soup and then you usually go for a walk outside for an hour or two.  That’s how it was when I was younger and it’s also how my wife and I plan to do it with our son.  Then you sit around the table at night, the whole family, and have a nice long dinner.  Usually when you’re a kid, though, you’re eating everything quickly because you can’t wait for the presents.

Wherever you celebrate the holidays, I hope you and your family have a safe and happy time.  I’ll catch you again in 2006!