By Kelly Taylor,

MontrealAlouettes.com

Montreal – Following a disappointing trip Out West, in which they went 0-2, the Alouettes stormed into Percival Molson Stadium with a vengeance on Thursday night, winning 40-33 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with quarterback Anthony Calvillo and kicker Damon Duval putting in the most impressive performances.

Calvillo connected 26 of 36 passing attempts for a total of 326 yards and two touchdowns. His first touchdown of the night at 3:11 of the second quarter came on a 30-yard pass to receiver Kerry Watkins – and was his 300^th career touchdown pass, making him just the fourth CFL pivot to reach that mark.

“Well, I’m very fortunate to play with so many talented people here in Montreal, so I have them to thank for being able to achieve this,” Calvillo said.

While the final score put the Als only seven points ahead of the Ticats, the gap was much larger with only minutes left in the fourth quarter but the Montreal defence seemed to suffer a minor meltdown, allowing Hamilton to score two touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the last seven minutes of play.

“We’re definitely very disappointed with the last few minutes,” Calvillo commented. “These things happen, though, and the important thing is we pulled through with the win anyways.”

Aside from those last few minutes, the Als defence effectively stifled the Ticats, which is the worst in the CFL, forcing them to suffer 61 yards of team losses and five quarterback sacks.

Duval, who was voted player of the game, nailed five field goals – undoubtedly playing a major role in this win for the Als.

“It’s a great feeling to come in and be able to put those through,” he said.

“This league is very tight; lots of games are really close as we’ve seen in our last couple games, so those three points really add up and end up being important. I’m happy to be able to come out and do my job for the team.”

Hamilton scored a total of four touchdowns, but still was without a passing score. The Ticats remain the only team in the league without a passing touchdown this season.

Montreal next visits the Blue Bombers in Winnipeg on Friday, Aug. 8 at 7:30 p.m. (RDS, TSN, CKAC SPORTS, CJAD).