• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Samsonov's two goals lift Canadiens over Bruins

Dec 13, 2006 - 3:20 AM MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Sergei Samsonov awoke from his slump against his former team.

Samsonov broke a 19-game scoring drought with two goals to help the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins.

The left wing, who had not scored since netting two goals in an 5-4 shootout loss to Toronto on October 28, played seven-plus seasons with the Bruins after they selected him eighth overall in the 1997 draft.

"It's nice to have a goal on the scoresheet after you haven't scored for a while," said Samsonov, who has six goals this season. "And, it's nice to score against your old team as well. It's a relief, not for just me and the guys I'm playing with, everyone felt good to see it."

Samsonov's second goal broke a 2-2 tie at 12:49 of the third period when he took a pass from Tomas Plekanec from behind the net and poked the puck past goaltender Hannu Toivonen.

"That's kind of like the way it goes, you struggle for a while and then all of a sudden the bounces begin to go your way," Samsonov said. "Anyway, on the second one, Tomas (Plekanec) forechecked, took the puck and made a nice pass to me."

Guillaume Latendresse made it 4-2 with four minutes left when his shot from the slot beat Toivonen.

"It was a bit lucky, but I have to give a big heads up to Maxim Lapierre, who did a good forecheck on that goal," Latendresse said. "I don't think he (Toivonen) saw it (the shot), there was a defenseman in front of me, and it was a great shot in the corner."

Marc Savard scored two goals and had an assist for Boston, while Petr Tenkrat also tallied. Savard leads the Bruins, who fell to 5-2-0 in their last seven road games, with 35 points.

"You know Marc, he plays hard every night, and tonight he was fortunate to get a couple of goals and was really important for us, like he is every night," Boston coach Dave Lewis said.

With Boston trailing, 4-2, Tenkrat scored with 51 seconds left to slice the deficit to 4-3.

Blue-liner Andrei Markov scored Montreal's other goal, a power-play tally at 6:36 of the first period to give Montreal a 1-0 lead.

Toivonen recorded 36 saves while Montreal netminder David Aebischer made 31 saves to snap a personal five-game losing streak.

"It felt good, but I've been playing with confidence," Aebischer said. "I had a strong game in New Jersey. It was nice to get the win, but it was more important to get the two points for the team."

Lewis was impressed with Toivonen, who made his first start since November 4 after Tim Thomas was scratched due to the flu.

"I thought he really competed well, made some good saves, moved well, was big, was into the game, was tested a lot and responded well," Lewis said. "It was the best game I've seen him play this year."