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Belfour blanks slumping Montreal

Feb 14, 2007 - 5:34 AM MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Ed Belfour was too much for the slumping Montreal Canadiens.

Belfour came up big in the third period and the Canadiens continued their offensive struggles as the Florida Panthers posted a 1-0 victory.

Belfour made 29 saves, including 16 in the third period, to post his 76th career shutout and tie Tony Esposito for eight place on the NHL all-time list.

"It was a huge win and definitely an honor to be beside Tony (Esposito," Belfour said. "We have to play every game like that, good defense like we did tonight. If we can do that every game we'll have a good chance to win."

Jay Bouwmeester scored the games only goal with just under four minutes left in the second period. He fired the puck into a crowded crease and it bounced around and kicked in off the pad of Montreal goaltender Cristobal Huet.

"Our road record hasn't been that great but we started out with a good one tonight," Bouwmeester said. "Eddie (Belfour) was rock solid back there tonight and deserved the shutout. They won, 1-0, last time, we won this one. We got the first goal and managed to ride it out."

Belfour made the goal stand in a busy third period. He made a pair of point-blank saves with 30 seconds to play and Chris Higgins corralled a second rebound on the doorstep but slammed the puck off the post.

"We played really well in the first two periods but they're in their own building and they came out hard in the third," Belfour said. "You definitely need to get the breaks and that one helped for sure."

Huet stopped 24 shots for the Canadiens, who lost their fourth straight and dropped to 1-5-1 in their last seven games. Montreal has struggled offensively with just 15 goals in that span.

"In the third we pushed them a bit but we couldn't find the way to score a goal, we hit the post but that was it," Huet said. "There was definitely some stuff that was encouraging for me. It was a little bit better for me but we'll see how it is the next game."

The shutout was just another in a string of tough outings for Montreal, which is 7-12-1 in 2007.

"We have to stay positive, we played the game we wanted to without Alex (Kovalev), (Mike) Johnson and (Craig) Rivet," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "We just couldn't buy a goal. If you guys know a recipe (to win) please send it to me."