HAMILTON – Davis Alexander will carry a perfect record into the Grey Cup. He’ll bring a stingy defence along for the ride, too.

The Montreal quarterback improved to 13-0 as a starter, and the Alouettes’ defence stood tall in a walk-off 19-16 win over the host Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the East final on Saturday.

Jose Maltos Diaz nailed a 45-yard field goal on the final play to give the Als the win. Alexander marched the Als down the field on a 36-yard, seven-play drive that started with 1:41 left, completing two second-down passes to Charleston Rambo to set up the winning field goal.

The Als now head to Winnipeg for next Sunday’s Grey Cup against the winner of the West final between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and B.C. Lions.

It wasn’t Alexander’s best game, but he did enough to maintain his unblemished record before a sellout crowd of 25,399. The Als defence made sure Alexander wouldn’t lose, slowing down quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and a high-powered Ticats offence in a game Montreal never trailed.

Alexander seemed to be bothered late in the game by a hamstring that had troubled him at times throughout the year, causing him to miss more than half the schedule. He was seen clutching it after one hit in the fourth quarter.

After a very mundane first half, the teams exchanged touchdowns to open the third quarter.

Alexander rolled to his right and lofted a ball to an open Tyler Snead for a 28-yard score to put the Alouettes up 13-3.

But the Ticats responded with a textbook drive, capped by Mitchell’s three-yard TD throw to Shemar Bridges. Mitchell completed all eight of his passes on the 10-play, 77-yard march, mostly short balls to methodically move the ball.

The teams then exchanged field goals to open the fourth quarter before Hamilton’s Marc Liegghio tied it with a 23-yard field goal with 1:47 left.

The Alouettes led 6-3 at halftime thanks to a 36-yard field goal by Maltos Diaz with four seconds left.

The Ticats’ first five drives ended with four punts and an interception just outside the end zone on a poorly thrown ball by Mitchell in the direction of Lawler.

The Alouettes also punted four times in the first half. Alexander wasn’t great when facing pressure and also missed some throws.

The Ticats looked like they were destined for the red zone in the final minute of the first half before offensive lineman Jordan Murray took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for continuing to block well after running back Greg Bell was tackled. He then slammed his helmet, resulting in another penalty and 25 yards lost.

Hamilton eventually got back in field-goal territory, resulting in a three-pointer for Liegghio to tie it at 3-3.