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Souray, Canadiens dominate on power play, defeat Lightning

Nov 16, 2006 - 4:00 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- When the Montreal Canadiens had opportunities on the power play, defenseman Sheldon Souray took advantage of the situation.

Souray scored two man-advantage goals and rookie Guillaume Latendresse added another as the Canadiens posted a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lighting.

It was Montreal's third straight win at Tampa Bay and its fourth win in the last five meetings with the Lightning.

Souray's first tally of the game and seventh this season came just 2 1/2 minutes into the contest. The eight-year veteran's second goal came on a two-man advantage with about five minutes left in the second period to give the Canadiens a 2-1 lead.

"The passes that I'm getting are right there on the tape for me to tee up," Souray said. "I'm having an easier time shooting the puck and not rushed. I'm getting set up real well so I can't take all the credit for the goals. We had a really good group effort out there tonight."

Latendresse scored his third power-play goal in the last two games nine minutes into the third session to finish the scoring.

"We have speed and we try to use it," Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau said. "We try to take advantage of all the mistakes."

"We gave them the game on special teams," Lightning left wing Vaclav Prospal said. "They scored all three goals on the power play, so it's just a matter of us staying out of the penalty box. It's tough to play shorthanded against a team like that."

Cristobal Huet stopped 29 shots for Montreal, which has won three of its last four games.

"We did a good job in the second period of putting pucks behind their defense and we played some time in their zone," Huet said. "They're always a dangerous team. They have a lot of skill and speed, but for most of the game, we did a good job in the our defensive zone."

Prospal tallied and Marc Denis stopped 25 shots for Tampa Bay, which saw its three-game winning streak end.

The Lightning also committed eight penalties and were 0-for-5 on the own power play.

"We felt great," Lightning right wing Martin St. Louis said. "We were doing the right thing. The puck was just not going in. Obviously too many penalties killed us when you're trying to play some catch-up hockey. We've got to be more disciplined."