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Lapierre, Price lift Canadiens in shootout

Dec 31, 2008 - 5:49 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- The Montreal Canadiens have returned to the winning ways at the expense of South Florida teams.

Maxim Lapierre netted the decisive goal in the second round of a shootout to help the Canadiens edge the lowly Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1, on Tuesday.

Alexei Kovalev also tallied in the shootout and Carey Price made 21 saves before denying Vaclav Prospal in the second round and Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier in final set of the bonus format to secure the win.

"I thought Lapierre played a really strong game, gave us chances to get back into the game, and has been playing the last two or three weeks," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "It was just a good time to put him in. One thing we talked about in the summer because of the record we had last year, was really trying to play a little bit better defensively.

"So we've worked on this since the start of the year. I think it pays off right now. We're playing well defensively. Both our goaltenders are strong. Sometimes when you do that, you find ways to win games. That's exactly what we're doing right now."

With the victory, the Canadiens have now won five of their last six games. Before that stretch, they dropped four of five and fell in the standings of the tight Eastern Conference.

Montreal completed a two-game sweep of South Florida teams one night after defeating the Florida Panthers, 5-2.

"We have a pretty big following no matter where we go," Price said. "It seems like whenever we're in an opposition rink, there's always at least five (thousand) strong that are rooting for us. It definitely gives you a boost when you're in an opposition rink."

Guillaume Latendresse scored his fifth tally of the season 46 seconds into the third period and Lapierre and Tom Kostopoulos notched assists for the Canadiens.

Prospal registered a power-play goal in regulation for the Lightning, who saw their three-game win streak come to an end. Before the streak, they had dropped 17 of 19 contests.

In the first round of the shootout, Jussi Jokinen converted a wrister to give Tampa Bay an early edge and Kovalev followed by beating Mike Smith with a backhander.

"The first guy made quite the move. He almost stopped (in front of the net)," Price said. "I think a lot of players are trying to do that now, just to try and throw off the timing of the goalies. It came down to the shootout. That could have went either way."

Prospal attempted a hard shot in the next round, but Price blocked it to set up Lapierre's eventual game-winning wrister.

"A couple of their shooters had some great shots," Tampa Bay interim coach Rick Tocchet said. "The second (Lapierre), it was a bullet. That was a (heck) of a goal. When Jokinen scored, we got the advantage, then (Smith) almost got that one with Kovalev and then we couldn't get the other two goals there to get back in it."

Price then stymied Lecavalier as Montreal improved to 5-2-0 in its last seven games at Tampa Bay.

Montreal forged a 1-1 tie as Smith blocked Lapierre's initial attempt from the slot, but the rebound kicked toward the left of net where Latendresse backhanded it into net.

The Lightning got on the board when Ryan Malone fired a wrist shot from inside the blue line and the puck deflected off Kovalev's skate onto the stick of Prospal, who was credited with the opening goal with 6:42 left in the first.

"We grabbed a point," Tocchet said. "Actually it was a great hockey game. We kind of gave them that goal there to get back in, but the shootouts are tough. We're getting some points, but we need the two points bad, really bad."

Smith finished with 29 saves in regulation, but the Lightning lost for the 16th time in 21 games decided by one goal.

"They're a good defensive team," Tocchet said. "Price played well. We had some chances, we had some guys that had some chances but that's a high scoring team, too."