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Koivu tallies twice as Canadiens end home slide

Dec 16, 2007 - 2:44 AM MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Leave it to captain Saku Koivu to end the Montreal Canadiens' troubles at home.

Koivu scored a pair of goals and Christopher Higgins added two assists as the Canadiens halted a six-game home losing streak with a 4-1 triumph Saturday over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Andrei Kostitsyn scored a goal and set up another and brother Sergei recorded his first career point for Montreal, which had dropped five of seven overall.

Koivu opened the scoring just over nine minutes into the first period with his sixth goal of the season. After carrying down the left side, the captain circled around the net and unleashed a backhander from the right faceoff circle that deflected off defenseman Hal Gill's stick and past goaltender Vesa Toskala at 9:03.

Sergei Kostitsyn notched an assist on the play for his first point in two career contests.

Just 3:09 into the middle session, Koivu completed his second multi-goal performance of the campaign. From the left circle, Higgins passed to Koivu, who moved to his left while alone on the doorstep and deposited the puck into an open net for a 2-0 lead.

Koivu also tallied twice in the season opener against Carolina on October 3.

With 8:43 remaining in the period, defenseman Mike Komisarek fired a rising wrist shot that glanced off the glove of Andrei Kostitsyn in the slot and into the net for a three-goal bulge.

The tally was Andrei Kostitsyn's sixth of the season and third in four games.

Alexei Kovalev padded the lead 8 1/2 minutes into the final period. On a 2-on-1 rush, the Russian fired a shot from the left circle that was stopped by Toskala.

But the rebound caromed off defenseman Tomas Kaberle and into the net at 8:32, giving Kovalev his team-leading 14th goal and Montreal a 4-0 cushion.

Maple Leafs blue-liner Bryan McCabe suffered an apparent left wrist injury behind the play and skated directly to the locker room. He did not return.

Boyd Devereaux spoiled rookie Carey Price's shutout bid at 15:54 with his fifth tally of the season.

Kovalev added an assist and Price made 28 saves for the Canadiens.

Toskala turned aside 21 shots but had his string of seven consecutive games with less than three goals allowed stopped for Toronto, which fell to 1-1-0 on its season-high seven-game road trip.