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Begin, Huet fuel Canadiens past Islanders

Nov 22, 2007 - 3:37 AM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) - The New York Islanders have had recent success by keeping it close. Steve Begin and Cristobal Huet of the Montreal Canadiens kept them from striking distance on Wednesday.

Begin scored twice and Huet stopped 41 shots as the Canadiens scored three times in the second period - including twice in a 64-second span - and coasted to a 4-1 victory over the Islanders.

"I think we played a very good 60 minutes tonight," Huet said. "We came out strong in the first period."

Long Island native Christopher Higgins also scored for the Canadiens, who took the lead 56 seconds into the contest on a goal by Begin and built a three-goal cushion 7:18 into the second period.

The Islanders had played seven straight one-goal games and were 5-2 in that span.

New York again suffered another "Ranger hangover" after defeating its cross-town rivals at Madison Square Garden on Monday. Since the end of the lockout, the Islanders fell to 6-10-1 after playing the Rangers.

"I wouldn't say (44) shots exactly is a letdown," Islanders center Mike Sillinger said. "We gave them the first goal and it took awhile for us to wake up. We didn't make them earn their goals."

Mike Comrie spoiled Huet's shutout bid with his seventh goal of the season with 3:50 remaining.

New York's Miroslav Satan hit the crossbar with a shot midway through the second period and Montreal killed off a two-man advantage for 40 seconds late in the second and for 25 seconds in the third.

"We just didn't have it tonight for whatever reason," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said. "There are going to be games like this where things don't work - and this is one of them."

Begin's only other goal this season came October 22 against Boston, but he gave the Canadiens the early cushion when he fired a slap shot from the left circle over the shoulder of Rick DiPietro.

"I always go high and hard in practice, so I figured I might as well do it in a game," Begin said.

Higgins skated around defenseman Chris Campoli before lifting a forehand shot over DiPietro at 6:14 of the second. The 24-year-old from nearby Smithtown has seven goals in eight career games against the Islanders.

"Good ol' Long Island comes through again," said Higgins, who scored on the road for the first time this season. "For some reason, I'm pretty lucky in this building. And every year in my career, I've always scored more goals on the road than at home, so this is something new.'"

Begin scored his third goal of the season at 7:18 of the second, putting a wrist shot from the right circle over DiPietro's shoulder to make it 3-0.

Brendan Witt fought with Montreal's Michael Komisarek, another Long Island native, a few minutes later, but it did little to spark the Islanders.

With Chris Simon serving a double minor, Tomas Plekanec put home a pass from Alexei Kovalev to make it 4-0 at 13:22 of the second.

The Canadiens played defensively in the third to protect Huet. They did not have a shot in the third period until 7:58 remaining.

DiPietro made 29 saves for the Islanders.