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Price helps Canadiens top Maple Leafs in shootout

Nov 28, 2007 - 4:29 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Unfortunately for the Toronto Maple Leafs, this will not likely be the last time they face Carey Price.

The 20-year-old rookie made a career-high 43 saves in regulation and then made some critical stops in the shootout to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 triumph over the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night in a battle of "Original Six" rivals.

Andrei Kostitsyn scored the decisive goal in the fifth round, unleashing a wrist shot between the pads of goaltender Vesa Toskala. Price, then, made a right-pad save on Jason Blake's chance to secure the win.

"I'm just trying to get out there and challenge, make the guy see a big target," Price said.

Toronto, which is just 7-17 in the bonus format all-time, has now lost four in a row and seven of its last eight contests.

Alexei Kovalev, who scored two power-play goals in regulation, got the Canadiens off to a great start in the shootout, beating Toskala with a wrist shot to the glove side.

"A goal is a goal - we're not producing much 5-on-5 - I'm glad the power-play is going in," Kovalev said.

Mats Sundin answered in the second round, firing a snap shot over the glove of Price.

"I didn't give him much to shoot at and he hit the spot, kudos to him," Price said of Sundin.

Kovalev gave Montreal the lead early in the third period, tallying his eighth power-play goal of the season. Bryan Smolinski sent a cross-ice pass to the dangerous sniper and Kovalev snapped a shot past a diving Toskala just 69 seconds into the session to take a 3-2 advantage.

A milestone goal from Sundin tied the game at 3-3 with just 18 seconds remaining in regulation. Sundin, who became the first player to score 400 goals in a Maple Leafs' uniform, poked the puck past Price during a scramble in front of the goal.

Sundin has 535 career goals in 1,256 career games with the Quebec Nordiques and Maple Leafs.

Montreal likely would not even been in the game had it not been for the effort of the Price. The rookie netminder is off to a great start, posting a 6-2-1 record so far.

Price turned aside all 17 shots he faced in the first period, 11 more in the second, 14 in the third, and one in the overtime.

"Facing the shootout, it seems he has the patience to wait until the player makes his first move," Saku Koivu said of Prince. "Considering his age, there's a lot of things that he's doing as if he's played in the league for 10-15 years - it's fun to watch."

On the other end of the rink, Toskala stopped 27 shots.

"I thought he played well tonight, I thought he was very good," Toronto coach Paul Maurice said of Toskala. "He made saves in the shootout against a team that is very good on the shootout."

After a scoreless opening period, the offenses exploded early in the second.

The Maple Leafs opened the scoring at 2:50 when Darcy Tucker notched his third tally of the season. After defenseman John Pohl's shot from the left point was blocked, Tucker corralled the loose puck and fired a turn-around wrist shot past Price.

Montreal answered exactly two minutes later with Kovalev and blue-liner Andrei Markov executing a give-and-go on the power play. After receiving a cross-ice pass from Kovalev, Markov faked the slap shot and sent a pass back across to Kovalev, who blasted a one-timer past Toskala.

An excellent effort by former Canadien Chad Kilger helped the Maple Leafs regain the lead at 6:35 of the middle session. Kilger accepted a pass from defenseman Andy Wozniewski and split the Montreal defenders before lifting the puck over Price's glove.

"It's good to get a little more positive spin in the room, guys are frustrated," Kilger said. "We had a very tough road trip, we didn't get results. We played a lot better today, we simplified our game and got a lot more shots and guys were going to the net."

Guillaume Latendresse tied the score at 2-2 just 33 seconds later when he capitalized on a scramble in front of the net during a delayed penalty, slapping the puck past Toskala.