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Price, Higgins help Canadiens continue Bruins' woes

Dec 7, 2007 - 5:43 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- The Montreal Canadiens continued the hangover for the Boston Bruins.

Christopher Higgins recorded a goal and two assists while rookie Carey Price made 24 saves as the Canadiens topped the Bruins, 4-2, on Thursday night at TD Banknorth Garden.

Kyle Chipchura, Tomas Plekanec and Mathieu Dandenault also tallied for Montreal, which has won seven straight over Boston - outscoring the Bruins, 31-11, in the process.

"We seem to catch them at the right time," Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau said. "Maybe we should play more games against them. We still have four games to go (against Boston), and I'm sure they're going to be ready to play those games."

"It's a hard team to play against going into the game," Higgins added. "It's a pesky team to play. They don't give up much. Somehow or another, we always seem to end up on top."

One night after squandering a 3-0 lead and losing to New Jersey in overtime, Boston returned home and immediately fell behind by three goals.

The Canadiens took advantage of rookie goaltender Tuukka Rask, who was making his third career start and first at home. The 20-year-old was pressed into action Wednesday night in New Jersey, when he played the final 4:26 for Tim Thomas, who suffered a groin injury.

Just three minutes into this game, Higgins began the onslaught against Rask when he collected a loose puck in front of the net and chipped in a shot for his 12th goal.

"We go into the game knowing it's a hard team to play against, especially in this building," Higgins said. "I can't really say what the reason for the success is. We play simple in this building, and maybe that's the reason.

"It shows when we get away from our game - we're not skating, we're not moving the puck well. But tonight, we did that, for the most part."

Chipchura doubled the lead when he scored his third goal on a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that was misplayed by Rask at 13:40 of the opening period.

"We saw a guy (Rask) who had a real slow start," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "That's something we noticed in Providence (of the American Hockey League). We weren't very good in front of him either."

Plekanec netted an important tally when his wrister from the right circle found its way past Rask on the stick side to make it 3-0 with 1:42 left in the first.

The Bruins tried to rally, pulling within one when Phil Kessel and P.J. Axelsson scored 2:31 apart in the second period.

Kessel snapped a string of seven straight goals against the Bruins when he redirected a slap shot by defenseman Dennis Wideman from the left point past Price for his ninth goal. The tally, which came during a power play at 6:10 of the second period, seemed to energize Boston.

Axelsson cut the deficit to 3-2 when he redirected a pass from Marc Savard for his third goal. Boston outshot Montreal, 13-3, in the middle session.

But Dandenault provided insurance with his fourth goal of the season at 13:15 of the third for the final margin.

"We were playing our third game in four nights," Julien said. "There was definitely mental and physical fatigue evident in that loss tonight."

It was a costly game for the Canadiens as they lost center Bryan Smolinski to a knee injury in the first period and left wing Steve Begin to an arm ailment less than two minutes into the third.

Rask stopped 26 shots for Boston, which was 1-for-3 with the man advantage.