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Sergei Kostitsyn helps Canadiens crush Maple Leafs

Oct 12, 2008 - 4:13 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Sergei Kostitsyn had two goals and an assist as the Montreal Canadiens rebounded from a season-opening loss with a convincing 6-1 triumph over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday in a battle of "Original Six" franchises.

Alex Tanguay notched a goal and three assists and captain Saku Koivu set up three tallies for Montreal, which dropped a 2-1 shootout decision to the Buffalo Sabres on Friday.

Guillaume Latendresse had a goal and two assists and defenseman Roman Hamrlik and Alexei Kovalev also scored for the Canadiens, who netted an NHL-best 262 goals last season.

"We were confident that it was going to come through, and it did tonight," Koivu said of Montreal's offense. "Sometimes you can't explain for the whole team, but the power play was a lot better tonight than it was last night - and that was a big part of the win."

"I'm hoping it's a sign of things to come," Tanguay said. "This is a very good team we've got - a lot of depth and a lot of skill. We played an average game last night and we didn't play as well as we'd like to. We needed to bounce back tonight and play a solid game, and we skated a lot better."

Veteran Jason Blake scored the lone goal for Toronto, which looked nothing like the team that recorded a 3-2 triumph over the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.

"You got to give Montreal credit, they came out and played a good game," Toronto's Alex Steen said. "Going into next game, we need to be prepared to work the same way we did against Detroit."

"I think when we came out, if we scored on a couple of the great chances we had early, it might have been different," Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson said.

Bidding for his first career hat trick, Kostitsyn skated in on a breakaway just over three minutes into the third period, but the Belarussian was denied by veteran goaltender Curtis Joseph.

"In the first game for us, everybody was nervous," Kostitsyn said. "This game, we feel more comfortable. We had a good power play and our goalie played well tonight."

After Hamrlik and Kovalev scored 99 seconds apart to give the Canadiens a 2-0 lead in the first period, Montreal tallied four times in the second period to seal the win.

Kostitsyn sandwiched a pair of power-play goals around Tanguay's tally with the man advantage in just under 6 1/2 minutes to give the Canadiens a 5-0 bulge.

The offense was more than enough for Jaroslav Halak, who finished with 24 saves.

"(Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau) told me I was playing tonight, and I was happy with the call," Halak said.

Toskala surrendered six goals on 23 shots over two periods before being replaced to start the third by Joseph, who stopped all 11 shots he faced.