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January 22, 2008

Canadiens win ninth straight over Bruins

Tom Kostopoulos scored 14 seconds into the game and Maxim Lapierre got Montreal's fourth goal of the opening period with 3 seconds remaining, sending the Canadiens on to a 8-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.

Andrei Kostitsyn, who also scored in the first, got his second goal of the game on a power play 17:44 into the third as Montreal set a season high for goals.

Michael Ryder also scored for Montreal in the first as each of the Canadiens' four lines contributed a goal against Alex Auld, who only stopped three of seven shots.

Bryan Smolinski and Mike Komisarek added goals in the second against Tim Thomas, who replaced Auld to begin the second.

Alex Kovalev scored a power-play goal in the third to make it 7-1 as the Canadiens matched their season high for goals, reaching seven for the second time against Boston, and third time overall this season.

Cristobal Huet made 29 saves for Montreal, which extended its winning streak against the Bruins to nine games, including its first six this season.

The Canadiens, who went 5-3-0 against Boston last year, have outscored the Bruins 20-6 in three games at the Bell Centre this season, including a 7-4 win on Nov. 17, the team's second seven-goal game of the season, and a 6-1 win on Oct. 22.

Marco Sturm scored his 16th goal midway through the first to draw the Bruins to 2-1. Petteri Nokelainen added a power-play goal 13:17 into the third.

Boston, which had gone 3-0-1 since a 5-2 loss to the Canadiens on Jan. 10, failed to record a standings point for the first time in five games.

Thomas made 13 saves over the final two periods.

Kostopoulos opened the scoring when he spun around at the right circle and shot a loose puck into a wide open right side.

Ryder, who was reunited with linemates Saku Koivu and Christopher Higgins, redirected Koivu's shot past Auld at 3:12 to make it 2-0.

After Sturm drew scored at 12:09, Kostitsyn got his 13th goal at 16:44 to restore Montreal's two-goal lead at 3-1.

Lapierre drew the sold-out crowd of 21,273 out of its seats one more time in the waning seconds of the opening period when he drove a slap shot past Auld and under the crossbar at 19:57.

Smolinski scored his third goal 5:45 into the second and Komisarek made it a 6-1 lead 1:19 later when he beat Thomas from the slot for his fourth goal.

--AP

Posted by Corey Bourassa  at 10:54 PM to Bruins | Permalink

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