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Komisarek's OT goal pushes Canadiens past Maple Leafs

Nov 14, 2007 - 4:40 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Mike Komisarek saw an opportunity and made the most of it.

Komisarek scored on a breakaway in overtime to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.

Alexei Kovalev had a goal and two assists and rookie Carey Price made 37 saves for Montreal, which ended a three-game losing streak against Toronto.

"It's always great to win in their home building because they did the same thing to us in our building," Kovalev said. "It's always exciting."

"Everybody was really happy," Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau said. "Carey made some good saves to keep us going. We finally got a break against them."

All three of this season's meetings between the "Original Six" teams have been decided by one goal, as were six of the eight games played last campaign.

"People talk about the rivalry so much," Kovalev said. "As much as I know about statistics, in 9-of-11 games, there is a one-goal difference. That tells you a lot. ... It's always fun to play these games."

Each team began the extra session with just three skaters as Montreal captain Saku Koivu and Toronto's Matt Stajan were serving penalties, Maple Leafs defenseman Bryan McCabe attempted a cross-ice pass from the right point to Nik Antropov.

"(At) 3-on-3, it's wide open if he doesn't get it," Antropov said. "It would be 2-on-1 the other way. I don't know, luck or something like that, but it seems like in overtime or shootouts, we've got to improve."

Komisarek, however, jumped up and intercepted the pass at his own blue line and skated in on a breakaway. After a deke, the defenseman slipped the puck between the pads of goaltender Andrew Raycroft just 35 seconds into overtime, giving the Canadiens their fourth win in six games.

"We talked about it before the drop of the puck (in overtime). It was going to be man on man in the zone," said Komisarek, who has eight goals in 237 career games. "I played (Antropov) soft, saw the pass and had my opportunity to jump. I'm happy it worked out the way it did."

"When you're a defensive player (and) you have those chances to make them pay, it's always fun," Carbonneau said.

Montreal opened the scoring during a 5-on-3 power play with 6:17 remaining in the first period. With Raycroft being screened, Andrei Markov unleashed a slap shot from the top of the slot that beat the netminder to the stick side for his sixth goal of the season, tops among all NHL defensemen.

Playing in just his fourth game of the campaign, Kyle Wellwood netted the next two tallies to give Toronto a 2-1 edge.

Rookie Jiri Tlusty carried down the left wing and skated below the end line before dishing to Wellwood, who put the puck past Price from the top of the crease at 2:01 of the second period to knot the contest. The 24-year-old center missed the first 15 games of the season while recovering from a sports hernia.

The Maple Leafs failed to cash in during a two-man advantage of their own later in the session as Price made several big saves, including one with his right shoulder on Alexei Ponikarovsky.

"The guys played well on the PK," Price said. "I think that was the key to the game. That 5-on-3 was a huge kill for us."

But Wellwood tallied during a power play with 94 seconds remaining in the period, flipping the rebound of captain Mats Sundin's one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle past Price to put Toronto ahead.

Sundin's assist was his 1,268th career point, moving him ahead of Hall of Famer Jean Ratelle for sole possession of 32nd place on the all-time list.

The lead lasted only 43 seconds, however, as Kovalev centered a pass from behind the net to Andrei Kostitsyn, who beat Raycroft from the low slot at 19:09 to forge a 2-2 tie. Boyd Devereaux restored Toronto's one-goal edge midway through the third, tipping defenseman Ian White's shot from the right point past Price at 9:44.

But Kovalev again knotted the contest just over four minutes later. Tomas Plekanec drove down the left wing and behind the net before feeding Kovalev, whose shot from the left hash marks sailed by Raycroft with 6:02 to go.

White recorded two assists and Raycroft stopped 21 shots for the Maple Leafs, who went 1-for-7 on the power play and have lost five of their last seven.

"Razor played outstanding," Toronto's Jason Blake said. "I thought we played well tonight, but it wasn't enough, obviously."

The Maple Leafs fell to 1-5 when the game goes beyond regulation, including 1-3 in overtime.

"We've got to find a way to win, whether it's overtime or a shootout," White said.