Canadiens Take Care of Bruins Again

The Montreal Canadiens started with more energy, ended with strong goaltending and knocked off the NHL’s top team.

They beat Boston, 4-2, Tuesday night, ending the Bruins’ three-game winning streak as Jeff Hackett stopped 31 shots, including all 14 he faced in the third period at Boston.

“In the first period, we matched their physical play and showed we weren’t going to be pushed around,” Hackett said. “I knew it was going to be a tough third period and they didn’t disappoint.”

But the Canadiens had built a 4-0 lead. They did allow goals by Joe Thornton and Mike Knuble in the last 10 minutes of the second period but played cautiously in the third.

“You can’t come out flat against a team like that. They’re explosive,” Boston’s Brian Rolston said. Hackett “made some big saves, there’s no question, especially in the third period when we were trying to come back.”

The Canadiens took a 4-0 lead on goals by Jan Bulis in the first period and Yanic Perreault, Oleg Petrov and Randy McKay in the second.

Montreal also beat a strong Boston team in last season’s playoffs. The Bruins had the best record in the Eastern Conference but lost in the first round to the eighth-seeded Canadiens.

The loss dropped the Bruins’ record against Eastern Conference teams to 14-2-2-0 and ended their five-game winning streak against Montreal in Boston.

Ottawa 4, Buffalo 2 -- Martin Prusek made 26 saves in only his fifth career start, and Marian Hossa scored twice to lead the Senators at Buffalo, N.Y.

Todd White and Brad Smyth also scored for Ottawa, which won for the first time in Buffalo since Dec. 30, 1998, and ended an eight-game winless streak (0-7-1) at HSBC Arena.

Chicago 3, New York Islanders 2 -- Tyler Arnason scored the go-ahead goal and also assisted on the tying score in the third period as the Blackhawks won at Uniondale, N.Y.

Roman Hamrlik and Dave Scatchard scored for New York. Hamrlik separated his shoulder later in the game and will be out for four weeks.

New Jersey 2, St. Louis 0 -- Jim McKenzie and Turner Stevenson scored, and Martin Brodeur made 28 saves for his third shutout this season as the Devils won at East Rutherford, N.J.

The Blues played two men short as they dressed only 18. The team was hit by widespread food poisoning which affected Dallas Drake and Scott Mellanby.

Toronto 4, Pittsburgh 2 -- Mats Sundin’s second goal of the game broke a third-period tie at Toronto as the Penguins lost their season-high fifth in a row.

Mario Lemieux recorded his league-leading 50th and 51st points in his 26th game this season. Pittsburgh lost winger Alexsey Morozov to a broken wrist. He will be re-examined today.

Philadelphia 5, Florida 2 -- Simon Gagne scored two unassisted goals as the Flyers won at Sunrise, Fla.

The five-goal outburst broke the Flyers’ team-record streak of 16 games without scoring more than three goals. They scored only 22 goals in that span.

Minnesota 5, Tampa Bay 3 -- Marian Gaborik scored his NHL-leading 19th goal, and the Wild scored three times on five second-period shots to win at St. Paul, Minn.