Thrashers forward Bryan Little skates in on Montreal's Mathieu Dandenault during the second period. (John Amis/Associated Press)

Brian Little's power-play goal in the first period was all the Thrashers needed to beat the anemic Montreal Canadiens 2-0 on Friday night in Atlanta.

Kari Lehtonen made a couple of big saves late in the third to preserve the shutout, and Rich Peverley added the insurance marker into an empty net with 35 seconds left.

Coming off an embarrassing 5-1 loss in Buffalo on Wednesday, the Canadiens were outshot 28-25 by the team with the NHL's worst defence and worst home record.

The dismal defeat kept Montreal (34-24-7) clinging to fifth place in the Eastern Conference. Only two points separate the Habs from ninth-place Buffalo and Carolina, who are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.

Atlanta (24-35-6) is 14th in the East and all but officially eliminated from post-season contention.

Though the Habs are caught in a 2-11-1 free fall in their last 14 away from Montreal, better times could be on the horizon: after their three-game road swing concludes on Monday in Dallas, the Canadiens will play nine of the next 10 at home.

Optimistic coach Guy Carbonneau insisted Friday that he was encouraged that his team "worked for 60 minutes and gained confidence."

"We keep working like this, we'll be OK," said Carbonneau, whose team is 0-2 since GM Bob Gainey elected to stand pat at the trade deadline.

Chippy play dooms Habs

About the only thing the Canadiens showed any vigour for Friday was breaking the rules, giving Atlanta eight power-play chances to their own five.

It started early, as a Habs player was sent to the box on six occasions in the opening period. The fifth of those calls, on Ryan O'Byrne, led to Little beating embattled goalie Carey Price off a scramble with 2:32 left before the intermission.

Price made 26 stops but fell to 0-6-1 in his last seven games.

"Physical play didn't help us at all," said Montreal forward Tomas Plekanec. "We started getting momentum and we would take a penalty."

Montreal finally came alive with 12 shots on goal in the third, but Lehtonen made sure the Atlanta lead held up by robbing Plekanec on a pair of tries from point-blank range late in the period.

After Plekanec, who's been on a scoring tear of late, got in behind the defence, Lehtonen foiled him twice with the right pad in rapid succession to secure his second shutout of the season.

"We're weren't shooting as much as we should have," said Canadiens forward Alex Tanguay, who took two penalites in 13 minutes of ice time in his return from a 28-game absence due to a shoulder injury."We didn't take control of the puck."

Tanguay's was the kind of stat line you might expect from tough guy Georges Laraque, whose back injury is likely to keep him out for a month after he left in the middle of the Buffalo game.