Updated

Ottawa, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Carey Price stood on his head as the Montreal Canadiens finally closed out the Ottawa Senators with a 2-0 victory in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

Price, nominated for the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goalie, made 43 saves for his fifth career playoff shutout. The veteran goaltender rebounded after giving up five goals on 25 shots in Friday's Game 5 loss.

"The team wanted this one," Price said. "When you're up 3-0 in a series, you want to close it out. They're a good hockey team. They pushed us; they played well those past few games."

Brendan Gallagher scored in the first period and Max Pacioretty added an empty-netter in the final second of regulation.

Montreal, which reached the Eastern Conference finals last spring, is in the second round for a second consecutive year for the first time since 1992 and 1993.

The Canadiens will face either Detroit or Tampa Bay in the next round. The Red Wings lead that series 3-2.

Craig Anderson stopped 18-of-19 shots for the Senators, who won Games 4 and 5 after losing the first three games.

"This team has been a real treat to say you've been the head coach of them," said Senators coach Dave Cameron, who replaced Paul MacLean on Dec. 8. "I'm extremely proud of this group ... after the disappointment of (the loss) is digested, it's always a lot easier as a coach when your team has emptied its tank, and that team emptied its tank for me for three months."

The Canadiens opened the scoring for the first time in the series when Gallagher took a high Greg Pateryn shot off his body and batted it past Anderson at 13:26. Gallagher had made his way to the front of the net after Ottawa's Zack Smith got his stick stuck in Gallagher's skate.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau nearly tied things up at 6:55 of the second, but an early whistle prevented the goal. The puck trickled away from Price after he stopped a shot by Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki.

Ottawa outshot Montreal by a 16-3 margin in the middle stanza.

The Senators made one last push when Montreal's Jacob De La Rose was penalized for tripping with 3:14 to play. Anderson was pulled for an extra-attacker, but Price made saves on Kyle Turris and Mika Zibanejad.

Pacioretty scored an empty-net goal with less than one second left.

Game Notes

Ottawa went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Montreal went 0-for-1 ... Canadiens forward P.A. Parenteau played for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Game 1 ... Ottawa's Clarke MacArthur and Pageau played despite leaving Friday's game with lower-body injuries.