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The rebuilding Canadiens weren’t expected to make the playoffs this season, but the Ottawa Senators were supposed to at least contend.

Both teams won’t be in the playoffs, with the Canadiens missing the postseason for the third straight season and the Senators missing for the seventh straight year. That should make Canadiens fans feel a bit better.

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The teams met Saturday night in Ottawa with the Senators winning 5-4 in a shootout. The Canadiens have now lost nine straight games against the Senators, dating back to April 5, 2022.

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The Canadiens had a chance to move ahead of the Senators and out of last place in the Atlantic Division standings with a regulation-time victory. The Canadiens were leading 4-3 before Thomas Chabot tied the game with 1:05 left in the third period with Senators goalie Joonas Korpisalo on the bench for an extra attacker and then Drake Batherson scored the only goal of the shootout for the victory.

The Canadiens (30-36-14) are now two points behind the Senators (36-40-4) and both teams have two games remaining in the season.

Cole Caufield scored twice for the Canadiens, while Mike Matheson and Alex Newhook added singles. Jesse Ylönen, Caufield and Suzuki all failed to score in the shootout.

Brady Tkachuk scored twice for the Senators and Shane Pinto added a single.

The Canadiens’ Juraj Slafkovsky was 13 years old the last time the Senators made the playoffs in 2016-17.

Goal Caufield: Caufield now has seven goals in the last seven games and a career-high 27 goals for the season, beating the 26 he scored in 46 games last season before requiring shoulder surgery.

Magic Mike: Matheson opened the scoring at 9:11 of the first period with a beautiful breakaway goal while the Canadiens were short-handed. It was the 11th goal of the season for Matheson, matching his career high set with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2021-22.

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Matheson also added his 51st assist of the season. His 62 points are the most by a Canadiens defenceman since Andrei Markov had 12-52-64 totals in 2008-09.

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Could have been a Hab: Tkachuk’s two goals give him a career-high 37 this season, two more than he had last season with the Senators.

Tkachuk, selected fourth overall by the Senators at the 2018 NHL Draft, now has 162 career goals. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, selected by the Canadiens one pick before the Senators took Tkachuk, has 63 career goals.

Kotkaniemi, now in his third season with the Carolina Hurricanes, does have a big advantage on Tkachuk in another category. Kotkaniemi has played in 58 playoff games, including 29 with the Canadiens, while Tkachuk has yet to play a single playoff game after playing 438 regular-season games.

Buffalo Sabres defenceman Rasmus Dahlin, taken with the No. 1 overall pick at the 2018 draft, has also never played in a playoff game. The Sabres will miss the playoffs for the 13th straight season. The Sabres’ Jeff Skinner holds the NHL record for most regular-season games played (1,005) without ever playing in the playoffs. Skinner spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Carolina Hurricanes, before joining the Sabres for the 2018-19 season.

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Could have been linemates: Tkachuk leads all NHL players under age 24 in goals this season with 37. Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki ranks second with 33.

Suzuki has played in 32 playoff games with the Canadiens.

Newhook on a roll: With a goal and an assist against the Senators, Newhook has 2-6-8 totals in the last seven games. Despite missing 27 games with a high ankle injury suffered at the end of November, Newhook has matched his career high in goals and points with 14-19-33 totals in 53 games. Last season, he scored 14 goals in 82 games with the Avalanche.

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Anderson not on a roll: Josh Anderson was held off the scoresheet for the 60th time in the 76 games he has played this season.

Anderson has 9-10-19 totals on the season and has only one point (a goal) in his last 18 games.

Finally a shot: For the first time in 12 games the Canadiens’ Rafaël Harvey-Pinard got a shot on goal, but he failed to register a point.

Harvey-Pinard has 1-8-9 totals in 43 games this season after posting 14-6-20 totals in 34 games last season.

Shooting gallery: It was a busy night for goalie Cayden Primeau as the Canadiens were outshot 44-25. Three of the Senators goals came on the power play.

It marked the fifth time in 20 starts this season — and the second straight — that Primeau has faced at least 40 shots. His record is now 8-9-2 with a 2.95 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.

Ylönen back in lineup: Ylönen returned to the Canadiens’ lineup after being a healthy scratch for the previous four games, taking Tanner Pearson’s spot. Ylönen failed to get a shot on goal during his 9:29 of ice time. Ylönen has one point (a goal) in his last 26 games and has 4-4-8 totals in 58 games this season.

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They said it: “I thought we played a pretty good game,” Caufield said. “We gave ourselves a couple of leads. Just a tough six-on-five goal. Battle to the end, I thought. Just a tough result.”

“It was a good game,” Primeau said. “They got four (goals) with a man down. Your goalie’s got to be your best penalty-killer. It doesn’t feel good.”

Some stats: As usual, Matheson led the Canadiens in ice time with 26:21. Defenceman David Savard had two assists. Caufield led the Canadiens with six shots, while Anderson had a team-leading eight hits. It was a rare game when Michael Pezzetta didn’t register a hit in his team-low 7:48 of ice time. Suzuki went 9-3 in the faceoff circle (75 per cent).

What’s next? The Canadiens will play the Red Wings on Monday night in Detroit, before finishing the season Tuesday night against the Red Wings at the Bell Centre.

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