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Koivu scores twice to lift Canadiens past Islanders

Dec 8, 2006 - 3:07 AM UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- Saku Koivu became more aggressive whenever the New York Islanders made a mistake.

Koivu scored a pair of power-play goals and Michael Ryder collected two assists as the Montreal Canadiens posted a 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders in their first meeting of the season.

The Canadiens' captain, Koivu helped his team avoid its first three-game losing streak of the campaign with his third multi-goal contest of 2006-07 and second in four games. He also tallied twice against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

"We had to create some traffic in front of the goalie," Koivu said. "Tonight, I was the one who got those rebounds. ... We were able to create more offense in their zone. The consistency was there tonight. A strong effort."

"I thought we played well defensively tonight against a team with a lot of speed up front," Montreal coach Guy Carboneau said. "We were able to move the puck out of our zone really quickly and use our speed in the neutral zone."

Koivu was in the right place at the right time with the man advantage at 6:51 of the second period, when he knocked in the rebound of Ryder's shot after it deflected off the right goalpost to give Montreal a 3-1 lead.

"Our power play is going pretty well right now," Montreal defenseman Sheldon Souray said. "The goals we are getting are due to guys paying the price in front of the net. You look at the goals we got tonight. Saku was right there for the rebound."

After Mike York was whistled for hooking at 4:27 of the third, Koivu scored his second goal of the game and 10th of the season 43 seconds later with a backhander from the slot that got past goaltender Rick DiPietro.

The Islanders opened the scoring at 1:25 of the first period, when Arron Asham tipped in Jason Blake's snap shot from the right faceoff circle past netminder Cristobal Huet. It was his fourth goal of the season and first in 14 contests.

Montreal answered a little more than four minutes later on blue-liner Craig Rivet's wrister from the left circle that deflected off New York right wing Viktor Kozlov's stick past DiPietro's left shoulder.

"Sometimes when you get scored on in the beginning, it kind of wakes your team up," Koivu said. "When we tied the game, I thought we were back in it. We know we can score goals."

With just 30 seconds left in the opening session, rookie Guillaume Latendresse stuffed the rebound of Souray's shot inside the left goalpost for his sixth of the campaign to give the Canadiens a 2-1 edge.

Huet won for the sixth time in seven decisions by making 25 saves for Montreal, which has won four of the last five matchups against the Islanders.

"We wanted this win after last (night's overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils)," Huet said. "Tonight, we controlled the puck and played a solid game in all areas. The Islanders have a good team, but we limited their chances the whole game."

DiPietro stopped 32 shots for New York, which fell to 7-6-2 at home.

"We skated in the first two minutes of the game, but we didn't sustain it," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said. "Penalties got us in trouble and there were some missed assignments. Tonight, they had three or four point-blank shots from the slot area. That doesn't usually happen."

"Our penalty kill is being used too much in the game," Asham said. "Players get tired. You don't want to take careless penalties. Once we stop doing that and (play) 5-on-5 hockey, we will be fine. It's hard to get any flow."