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Price sharp as Habs top Sens in Montreal

Dec 8, 2010 - 5:07 AM Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - Carey Price made 27 stops and Jeff Halpern scored the game-winner early in the third as the Montreal Canadiens took a 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Brian Gionta had a goal and an assist while Roman Hamrlik and Michael Cammalleri each added a goal for the Canadiens, who have won three straight.

"We came out with a good start, but allowed them to come back there in the first period," said Gionta. "Price bailed us out some in the second and it was disappointing that we couldn't take advantage of our power plays in that frame."

Nick Foligno lit the lamp while Pascal Leclaire was charged with three goals on 33 shots for the Senators, who have dropped four of five. Brian Elliot briefly spelled Leclaire in the third and stopped one of the two shots he faced.

"It's a disappointing loss," said Foligno. "We thought we had a good game going, but a couple of penalties got their momentum going. We had such a good game against New York two nights ago and we battled tonight to tie it in the first. We played pretty solid, but they got two big penalties and we may have sat back too much."

With the score tied in the third, Halpern gave his team a 2-1 lead at the 2:18 mark. A turnover in the neutral zone saw Halpern get the puck, skated down the inside right wing and outlast Leclaire before lifting it over the goaltender at a sharp angle from the right side.

At the midway mark of the frame, Gionta gave his team some insurance when he skated down the right side on a 2-on-1 break, opted to shoot and lasered the disc into the left corner.

Moments after Leclaire left, Gionta blasted a shot on net from the left circle, the disc popped into the air and Hamrlik whacked it in with 3:32 to play.

Montreal got on the board courtesy of the power play at the 9:09 mark of the first. Cammalleri snapped a shot on net from the low right side that Leclaire stopped, but the rebound sat there and Cammalleri flung that one into the left corner of the net for his ninth goal of the season.

Ottawa, though, tied the game with a power-play goal of its own with just moments left in the opening frame. Jason Spezza made a nifty move to get in the zone and from the right boards flung the pass across the ice. Foligno gathered the disc and snapped a wrister that beat Price with just 8.5 seconds left on the clock.

Montreal had a full five minutes of power play in the second when Chris Kelly was given a major for boarding when he drove Yannick Weber head-first into the boards behind the Montreal net. However, the Ottawa penalty kill persevered and kept it a tie game.

After 40 minutes, it was still a 1-1 game as Leclaire stopped nine shots and Price made 13 saves in the middle frame.

Game Notes

Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson has gone eight games without a point, the longest stretch in his career...Ottawa hosts the Rangers on Thursday...The Canadiens play in Detroit on Friday...Montreal has won three of the four games with Ottawa this season.