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Penguins beat Habs, continue march towards top seed in East

Apr 18, 2013 - 3:17 AM Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Brenden Morrow registered two goals and an assist on Wednesday to help the Pittsburgh Penguins inch closer to clinching the Eastern Conference's top seed with a 6-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at CONSOL Energy Center.

Brandon Sutter scored twice, Jarome Iginla added a goal and an assist, and Douglas Murray also lit the lamp for the Penguins, who have won five straight and sit comfortably atop the East with 66 points.

"When you're working hard good things usually happen," Morrow said. "We're all working hard and creating some bounces for ourselves."

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 31 shots in the victory.

Brian Gionta, Alex Galchenyuk, Gabriel Dumont and Andrei Markov each tallied once for the Canadiens, who have lost three straight to fall into a tie atop the Northeast Division with Boston, which dropped a shootout decision against Buffalo later on Wednesday.

The Bruins have a game in hand after their scheduled contest versus Ottawa on Monday was postponed following the tragic events that took place earlier in the day at the Boston Marathon.

Peter Budaj allowed three goals on nine shots in the first before being removed in favor of Carey Price, who gave up three goals on 20 shots over the final two frames.

"You can't expect to win giving up four goals, five goals," Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. "It's a matter of going back to basics."

Sutter's wrister from the left circle beat Budaj high to the far side to make it 1-0 at the 7:24 mark and Morrow followed just over two minutes later with a quick shot from the left circle that sailed high over the short-side shoulder of Budaj for a 2-0 lead at 9:30.

Iginla then added a power-play marker with 21 seconds left in the period to push the margin to 3-0.

Price took over in net to start the second, but the Penguins continued their offensive onslaught, as Beau Bennett snuck a pass through the slot to the low left side, where Morrow tapped in a one-timer to make it 4-0.

The Canadiens countered at the 7:42 mark when Gionta netted his 12th of the season, but Sutter's second of the night -- a power-play tally at 10:30 -- quickly pushed the margin back to four.

Galchenyuk's wrister from the low right side found the far top corner to make it 5-2 late in the third before Dumont buried his first NHL goal with a shot from the right circle that deflected off a Pittsburgh stick and sailed high over the short-side shoulder of Fleury to bring Montreal within 5-3.

The Penguins responded just 1:15 later when Murray flipped a shot on net from the right point that hit a body in front and snuck past Price to push Pittsburgh's lead to 6-3 at 5:24.

Markov's ninth of the year at the 19:49 mark accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

Montreal's three-game losing streak matches its longest of the season ... Montreal forward Ryan White was suspended five games Wednesday for an illegal check to the head of Philadelphia defenseman Kent Huskins on Monday ... Murray had gone 146 games without scoring a goal, which was the longest active streak in the NHL ... Iginla's power-play goal was his 1,100th career point ... Pittsburgh took all three meetings from Montreal to sweep the Canadiens for the first time.