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Habs stay hot in win over Blueshirts

Tue 16th, March 2010

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Sergei Kostitsyn's goal in the third period gave Montreal the lead for good, as the Canadiens edged the New York Rangers, 3-1, at the Garden.

Glen Metropolit also scored for the streaking Canadiens, who won their sixth straight game and moved within one point of Ottawa for second place in the Northeast Division.

Jaroslav Halak turned aside 19 shots while Tomas Plekanec's empty-net goal with 36 seconds remaining in regulation sealed the victory.

"We are playing with great confidence and we know we can win every night," said Metropolit. "We've got to keep it going -- we have some tough games coming up."

Sean Avery scored the lone goal for the Rangers, who saw their brief two-game win streak halted. Henrik Lundqvist was strong between the pipes with 32 saves in the losing effort. New York remained five points behind the Flyers in the Atlantic Division.

"We just have to approach every game like it is the last," said Lundqvist. "We definitely don't want (to miss the playoffs). We have 13 games left in the regular season and if we want to (qualify for the postseason), we need to raise our level and play our best hockey down the stretch."

In the third period, Kostitsyn's sixth tally of the season -- which was assisted by Travis Moen and Dominic Moore -- at the 5:59 mark gave Montreal a 2-1 lead.

Lundqvist, who was stellar in the second stanza when he stopped all 18 shots he faced, was not quick enough to stop Kostitsyn's fourth goal in his last three contests.

The Rangers pulled their netminder in the final minute-plus, which got ugly after Plekanec's empty-netter. Avery and former Ranger Scott Gomez were involved in fisticuffs, for which Avery received an additional slashing major and a game misconduct against just a roughing minor to Gomez.

New York will conclude its three-game homestand on Thursday against St. Louis.

"It's so obvious how we need to play to be successful and we're just not consistent with it," said Rangers head coach John Tortorella. "We're going to practice and move forward."

The Canadiens opened the scoring in the early stages of the first period while on the power play due to a holding minor called on New York's Brandon Prust. After a faceoff in the right circle, the puck was drawn back to Metropolit, who wound up from the slot and sent a blistering slap shot past Lundqvist at the 3:34 mark.

Avery's 11th goal of the season, and his third in the last two games, knotted the contest just over two minutes into the middle session. A shot from along the right half-wall made its way through traffic and Avery was credited with the successful redirection from in front.

Game Notes

New York fell to 15-16-6 at home this season...Despite the loss, the Rangers are still 10-4-2 against Northeast Division foes in 2009-10...Montreal finished 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Rangers were scoreless on all five of their chances with the extra skater.