Canadiens 3 - 1 Maple Leafs
Final
  for this game

Bourque, Price help Habs down Leafs

Jan 22, 2012 - 4:59 AM Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Rene Bourque notched his first goal in a Montreal uniform and Carey Price turned away 32 shots as the Canadiens beat the Maple Leafs, 3-1, at Air Canada Centre.

Raphael Diaz and Lars Eller scored in the third period for the Habs, who had dropped five of six coming in.

"We played a textbook road game. The guys played well in front of me," said Price. "We pretty much shut them down. We didn't give them a whole lot of opportunities."

Matthew Lombardi provided the lone offense for Toronto, losers in four of their last five. Jonas Gustavsson made 20 saves in defeat.

Diaz ripped a rolling puck through a screen and Gustavsson's pads from the bottom of the right circle for a 2-1 Habs edge at 3:29 of the third period.

Montreal then led 3-1 with 8:35 to play when Eller banked a wraparound chance off Gustavsson's back from the right post.

Toronto went 6-on-4 thanks to pulling Gustavsson after Canadiens defenseman Tomas Kaberle was sent off for tripping with 1:42 remaining but couldn't find the net. Price made a pad stop on Phil Kessel against the left post with roughly one minute to go to preserve the winning margin.

"We started the game well and really took the pace to them. But as the game went on, it just kinda became a game of 'who's gonna make a mistake first,'" said Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf. "We were the ones who broke and we'll have to move on."

The clubs were deadlocked after one period thanks to goals 29 seconds apart.

Bourque netted his 14th of the season at 18:26 by batting in a loose puck at the front of the net, then Lombardi equalized on a breakaway at 18:55.

"I just wanted to stop in front. I saw right away that it was going to bounce back in front (off the glass behind the Toronto net)," Bourque said of his positioning on the score. "I kind of got lucky there and just got my stick on it."

A scoreless second period saw Price make 12 saves and Gustavsson stop nine shots.

Game Notes

Bourque was acquired from the Calgary in a surprise January 12 deal which saw the Flames net disgruntled forward Mike Cammalleri...He picked up his first score since January 1 in Nashville...Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul finished with five shots but was a game-worst minus-three in 17:26 of ice time.






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