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Canadiens dominate 'Canes

Nov 14, 2010 - 4:07 AM Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - Tomas Plekanec had a goal and three assists while Brian Gionta, Mike Cammalleri and Andrei Kostitsyn chipped in with a goal and assist each as Montreal downed Carolina, 7-2, at Bell Centre.

Maxim Lapierre, Benoit Pouliot and Mathieu Darche also lit the lamp for the Canadiens, who have won three straight and four of their last five.

Carey Price turned away 28 shots to earn the win for Montreal, which beat the Hurricanes in regulation at home for the first time since December 6, 2003.

"They're guy (Price) was real good at the times he needed to be and kept us from getting it going," Carolina head coach Paul Maurice said. "I liked our first period, I thought we were the better team in that stanza. We battled back and made some simple mistakes with puck control. There are consistency issues with our team that we have to sort out."

Anton Babchuk and Tom Kostopoulos netted the goals for the Hurricanes, who have lost their last two games by a combined 15-3 score.

Cam Ward was pulled after allowing four goals on 22 shots to take the loss.

Travis Moen fed in front to Plekanec, who slipped it past Ward from the top of the crease to give the hosts a 1-0 lead 11:18 into the contest.

The Habs added to their lead when Cammalleri stuffed home a Plekanec pass at the left doorstep with 1:28 remaining in the opening stanza.

"It was a big win for us," Plekanec said. "We knew we had to be ready. We knew they had lost a bad game before and they would come out hard and they did. I thought they were the better team in the first period."

Carolina tallied twice in a span of 2:13 during the middle session to tie the game before the Canadiens erupted for three goals in 4 1/2 minutes to reclaim the lead.

Eric Staal set up both goals, as he slid a cross-ice pass to Babchuk, who one- timed it past Price from the bottom of the left circle at 9:08 and then fed Kostopoulos, who snapped a shot past Price for his first of the season.

Gionta put the Canadiens back on top for good at 14:34, as he finished off a give-and-go with a wrister that beat Ward high to the glove side.

Lapierre caught up to a loose puck behind the defense, spun and slid a shot past Ward 60 seconds later to make it 4-2 and chase the Carolina netminder from the game.

Pouliot's one-timer past a sprawled Justin Peters gave the hosts a 5-2 edge with just under two minutes to go in the frame.

"We got it back to it in the middle part of the period and started to play our game," Gionta said. "We were coming up with speed to the blueline and working our defense a little lower. We started to clean up our turnovers and began to have some success after that."

Kostitsyn and Darche scored their goals less than a minute apart in the final 2 1/2 minutes of the game.

Game Notes

Kostitsyn now has 154 points, good for 93rd on the Canadiens all-time scoring list...Price earned his 70th career win and third in seven games against the 'Canes...Gionta has scored a goal in three of his last four games...Cammaleri ended an eight-game goal drought...Ward dropped to 11-4-2 in 17 meetings with the Habs...Babchuk ended a nine-game string without a goal...Peters yielded three goals on 11 shots.