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Canadiens blow out Maple Leafs

Fri 9th, January 2009

Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - Andrei Kostitsyn had a goal and two assists, as the Montreal Canadiens used a balanced scoring attack to rout the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-2, at Bell Centre.

Sergei Kostitsyn, Maxim Lapierre, Guillaume Latendresse and Alex Kovalev also scored for Montreal, which has won three straight and six of seven. Patrice Brisebois tallied three assists, while Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves in the win.

"We were great from start to finish," Brisebois said. "Everyone played well. We remember the last time we played in Toronto, and we wanted to avenge that loss. We played well defensively and waited for our chances."

Tomas Kaberle and Matt Stajan provided the only offense for the Maple Leafs, who have lost six of eight. Vesa Toskala struggled, allowing five goals on 21 shots in two periods before being pulled in favor of Curtis Joseph, who allowed a goal on eight shots.

"The last couple of games, Toskala was great," Leafs head coach Ron Wilson said. "But he was a little off tonight. Just one of those things, but he made some great saves in the two periods that he played. It gave us a chance to give Joseph a period of work."

Montreal's power play struck quickly, as Sergei Kostitsyn gave the Canadiens a 1-0 just 2 1/2 minutes into the game.

Lapierre's wrist shot found its way to the back of the net at the five-minute mark of the first, extending Montreal's lead to two.

Toronto cut its deficit in half, though, as Kaberle's slap shot on the power play made its way through traffic, beating Halak on the lower left side of the net with 12:05 still left in the first.

The Canadiens made it a 3-1 game, catching the Leafs on a line change. Tom Kostopoulos took the puck behind the net and dished it out in front to Latendresse. As Toskala was out of position, Latendresse easily put the puck in the net with 57 seconds remaining in an entertaining opening period.

Kovalev gave the hosts a three-goal lead with his wrist shot tally 6:20 into the second. Andrei Kostitsyn's tip-in with 1:07 to go in the middle frame put Montreal up, 5-1, after two periods.

Max Pacioretty notched a goal midway through the third period to give the Canadiens a commanding lead that they would not relinquish.

"We were up 6-1 and they were trying to get us off our game," Lapierre said. "Trying to change the momentum. They tried to hit and fight the guys. But we kept our focus, because we wanted to win that game."

Stajan added a goal late for the Leafs, but the game was decided by that point.

Game Notes

Montreal leads the season series, 2-1...The Canadiens have won six of the last nine meetings with the Leafs...Toronto dropped to 8-11-2 on the road, while Montreal improved to 13-4-4 at home...The Canadiens went 2-for-8 on the power play, while the Leafs went 2-for-7...The teams combined for 140 penalty minutes.