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Plekanec powers Canadiens past Senators

Feb 6, 2008 - 5:21 AM MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Tomas Plekanec had two goals and an assist as the Montreal Canadiens edged the Ottawa Senators, 4-3, on Tuesday to close within one point of the Northeast Division and Eastern Conference leaders.

Andrei Kostitsyn scored a goal and set up two others and Alexei Kovalev added three assists for the Canadiens, who defeated the struggling Senators for the first time in their last seven attempts.

"The team's playing with a lot of confidence, especially the line of Plekanec, Kovalev and Kostitsyn," Montreal defenseman Mike Komisarek said. "Those guys have carried us and they're consistent every night. They're a threat every time they go on the ice, and I'm glad I don't have to line up against those guys."

"That's when things pay off, when you play with the same guys for a long time," Kovalev said. "You create plays, you try different things and eventually you know pretty much where everybody is without even looking. I'm happy the way our line is going right now, but we should push ourselves a little bit more to be more successful."

Chris Kelly, All-Star Jason Spezza and Antoine Vermette scored for Ottawa, which has lost three in a row and eight of its last 11.

After Kelly opened the scoring just 2:42 into the first period, the Canadiens scored four consecutive goals to gain control of the contest.

Kostitsyn leveled the game at 1-1 with 7:49 remaining in the first.

With Montreal on the power play, Kovalev wristed a cross-crease pass to Kostitsyn, who fended off defenseman Andrej Meszaros and slapped the puck past goaltender Martin Gerber for his 16th goal of the season.

Quick passing also gave Montreal a 2-1 advantage just 3 1/2 minutes later.

Kovalev gained the offensive zone and fed Kostitsyn in the left faceoff circle. The Russian then wristed a cross-crease pass to Plekanec, who tapped the puck into the vacant net.

"The first two goals, we shouldn't have given up the way we did," Gerber said. "Right now, they are the top power play in the league, and tonight, they showed why. We just have to bear down a little bit and do the small things and we should be all right."

After Ottawa failed to score on a 3-on-1 rush, Montreal made the most of its 3-on-2 advantage just 1:46 later. Defenseman Mark Streit blasted a shot from the left circle past Gerber for his ninth goal of the season.

Plekanec gave Montreal a three-goal bulge midway through the second.

With the Canadiens on the power play, Plekanec accepted a feed from Kovalev on the doorstep and scored his 19th goal - and fifth game-winner - of the season.

"We tried to stay out of the (penalty) box, and we did, for the most part," Ottawa's Chris Neil said. "We got a couple of penalties and they were able to capitalize on them. Our power play wasn't great at the start, then they switched things up and we put Vermette out there, and he did a good job. We were able to pop one and get back in the game a little bit."

Spezza tallied 2:42 into the third period to cut the deficit to 4-2, and Vermette made it a one-goal affair five minutes later with a power-play goal.

"You have to tip your hat, they scored some good goals tonight. But there's two teams that play the game," Spezza said. "We're missing a few of our offensive guys, so we can't play our game, but we did some good things. We came back and battled back at the end, but we just couldn't get the win."