The Montreal Canadiens used three power-play goals to shade the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 Monday night in a key Eastern Conference clash.
Sheldon Souray scored on the man advantage for his team-leading 22nd goal, while Saku Koivu and Michael Ryder assisted on each other's power-play markers in the victory.
Canadiens Sheldon Souray, centre, celebrates a goal with Andrei Markov and Craig Higgins.
(Ian Barrett/Canadian Press)
Tomas Plekanec and Mike Johnson also scored for Montreal and David Aebischer made 32 saves as Montreal moved into seventh place in the East.
Koivu shone for the Habs on Monday despite almost missing the contest because of the flu. Not only was he battling a bug, which kept winger Sergei Samsonov out of the lineup, but he was dealing with the trade of teammate and best friend defenceman Craig Rivet, who was shipped to San Jose over the weekend.
"I slept all day Sunday and I didn't feel my best [Monday]," said Koivu, who has 11 points in his past five games. "When you feel that way, you try to do a little less and I guess sometimes less is more."
Montreal's dangerous power play — dormant during the team's struggles in February — was back in full effect Monday night at the expense of the Maple Leafs. The Habs went 3-for-4 with the man advantage, building a 5-2 lead after two periods and chasing Toronto starter Andrew Raycroft from the game.
Toronto didn't give up, however. The Leafs got some spark in their skates early in the third with goals from AHL call-up Jeremy Williams and Alex Steen.
"I like the way we responded — a lot of teams would have packed it in," said Leafs coach Paul Maurice.
The Leafs appeared primed for a power play late in the game when Montreal's Garth Murray got his stick up on Toronto captain Mats Sundin's face with 1:31 left to play.
The four on-ice officials discussed the play, but no penalty was called, leaving Sundin and Toronto's bench livid.
Bates Battaglia and Bryan McCabe had the other goals for the Leafs, who stayed in 10th spot in the East, behind the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers, who sit in eighth and ninth, respectively.
Monday's game marked the return of Canadiens forward Alexei Kovalev, who missed the squad's previous seven games with an elbow injury.
Kovalev showed no signs of rust in his first game back. He caused problems for Toronto's defencemen all night and added an assist on Plekanec's first-period goal.
