The road to opening night started for the Ottawa Senators on Monday.

The Senators opened their preseason schedule on the Kraft Hockeyville stage with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens in front of more than 4,000 fans at the Centre Vidéotron in Trois-Rivières.

Dylan Cozens and William Eklund did the scoring for the Senators, while goaltender Samuel Ersson made 33 stops. Cole Caufield’s second of the game with a blast by Errsson on the stick side secured the win.

After four days on the ice, the Senators were looking forward to reaching the next phase. The club will play five exhibition games, including two split-squad games, before camp wraps up on Sunday.

“You want to win every game, no matter what game it is,” Eklund told reporters in Trois-Rivières.

There aren’t many openings in this camp, but a couple of young players are pushing to stay in Ottawa. Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, is confident the Senators have what it takes to continue making progress.

“I made a commitment to my players and the fans that we weren’t going to take a step back. I feel good about where we’re at,” Staios told Sportsnet after the first period.

A storyline people have watched in camp is Ersson.

Acquired after spending his career with the Philadelphia Flyers, Ersson is expected to be a capable backup for Linus Ullmark and was signed to a two-year deal.

Ersson gives up a lot of rebounds, but he was solid. That’s all the Senators need from their backup this season. Many have said Ersson needed a change of scenery, and this is an opportunity for a fresh start.

He gave his club a chance to win and couldn’t do much on Caufield’s tying goal on the power play with 7:57 left in the game.

“You want to come out with the win, especially leading late in the third. That stings a little bit,” said Ersson. “There are things to build on for sure. It’s the preseason, it’s about getting a feel for the game. There are definitely some good things.”

The Senators were outshot 13-4 in the first. They were getting toppled in their own zone and didn’t play the way we’re accustomed to seeing. By contrast, much of the club’s success is built on playing well defensively.

“That period was the opposite of what we’re typically about,” Staios said after the first. “We’re a possession team and a defensive team, but it’s the preseason. It was a bit of a shooting gallery.”

Coach Travis Green noted on Sunday that the club will use different combinations and stick with what works.

Without top centre Tim Stutzle, Dylan Cozens centred a line with Fabian Zetterlund and Eklund. Stephen Halliday was with Andre Burakovsky and Drake Batherson, while Shane Pinto skated with Nick Cousins and Michael Amadio.

It was interesting to see that Green shifted Ridly Greig to the centre of a fourth line with Hayden Hodgson and Samuel Blais.

The line of Cozens, Eklund and Zetterlund was the club’s best, and it should have been. Hodgson distinguished himself by taking a holding the stick penalty from the Ottawa bench.

There is a strong possibility they could start the year together, and it was Cozens who gave the Senators a 2-1 lead heading to the third period.

“We got better after the first and started to get our game legs back,” Cozens told 104.7 FM in Trois-Rivières.

He fired a shot past Jakub Dobes with only 12 seconds left in the second.

Eklund was impressive.

He had a nice start. Eklund scored on his first shot of his initial shift. He took a pass from behind the net from Cozens and beat Montembeault at 1:29 on the stick side to open the scoring.

“We were feeding off each other, and that turns into good things,” said Eklund.

A weak clearing attempt by Greig landed on Jayden Struble’s stick, and he beat Ersson at 4:43.

This was a big night for prospects Carter Yakemchuk and Djibril Toure, along with veteran Ben Hutton.

Toure has had an excellent camp and deserved the opportunity to play, while Yakemchuk is trying to show he deserves to be in the NHL to start the season with Artem Zub sidelined by a knee injury.

Hutton, signed to a professional tryout just before camp, is trying to earn a contract.

Toure was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with just over three minutes left in the second. He had been jawing with Montreal’s Arber Xhekaj, and that allowed the Habs to get a power play.

This is a short camp, so decisions will have to be made quickly.

Hutton looks like a solid pro, but took an untimely penalty that led to Caufield’s tying goal late in the third.

Yakemchuk didn’t do anything to distinguish himself, but he wasn’t a liability either. It could come down to those two when the final decisions are made.

“I thought we got up to the speed of the game,” said Green. “We got behind in the first, but I thought we got better in the second and third.”

bgarrioch@postmedia.com