No Place Like New Home to Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens were playing the right team to open their new building.

The New York Rangers were 1-16-3 at the Forum. Now they’re 0-1 at The Keg.

The Canadiens got two goals from Montreal native Vincent Damphousse--including the first in the $230-million Molson Centre--to beat New York, 4-2, Saturday night.

Damphousse scored the first goal at 6:13 of the first period.

“It’s a great moment that I’ll remember a long time,” Damphousse said. “I’m in the books now and that’s special.”

His second goal in the first period gave Montreal a 2-1 lead.

With the arena’s 21,221 seats and 160 press-box spots full, the Canadiens scored three power-play goals and shut down New York’s power play, including killing a five-minute penalty assessed defenseman Lyle Odelein for butting Darren Langdon in a first-period fight.

Mark Recchi and Pierre Turgeon added power-play goals in the third period for Montreal.

The Canadiens won their last five games at the Forum and then kept the home streak alive.

OTHER GAMES

Andrei Nikolishin and Brendan Shanahan scored first-period goals for Hartford in a 2-1 victory over Buffalo at home. . . . Ron Hextall stopped 17 shots for his second shutout of the season and the Flyers stopped a four-game winless streak with a 3-0 victory over Winnipeg at Philadelphia. . . . Bryan Smolinski scored a goal and had an assist for the Penguins, who broke a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders at Pittsburgh.

NHL Notes

The NHL suspended Winnipeg right wing Keith Tkachuk and Ottawa left wing Michel Picard for two games each and fined both players $1,000 as a result of plays earlier in the week. . . . The Florida Panthers acquired right wing Ray Sheppard and a fourth-round pick in a trade with the San Jose Sharks, who received second and fourth-round picks.