Canadiens aren't caught short
Christopher Higgins made the Ottawa Senators' power-play woes even worse.
Higgins scored his third shorthanded goal of the season and Alex Kovalev combined with his new Russian linemates for Montreal's second goal, leading the Canadiens to a 4-2 win over visiting Ottawa last night.
Higgins opened the scoring -- during one of the Senators' seven failed power-play opportunities -- 5:30 into the second with his team-high seventh goal on a sensational effort. Ottawa has scored on only 9.4 percent of its chances (6 of 64).
"I guess it's just intensity and anticipation," said Higgins, who leads the NHL in shorthanded goals. "Some guys have it and some guys don't, and that's why some guys are penalty killers. I try to use my speed to get on them and let them make plays and try to force turnovers as much as possible."
David Aebischer made 31 saves for Montreal, 2-0-1 in its last three games. Aebischer lost a bid for his first Montreal shutout on Jason Spezza's goal 6:19 into the third.
Normally a right wing, Kovalev moved to center between Sergei Samsonov and Alexander Perezhogin late in last Saturday's game. The move paid dividends late in the second last night when Kovalev redirected a centering feed from Samsonov for his fourth goal to make it 2-0.
Sharks 2, Panthers 1 -- Christian Ehrhoff scored a power-play goal with 35.8 seconds left and Joe Thornton also tallied to lift visiting San Jose.
Olli Jokinen scored and Alexander Auld stopped 26 shots for the Panthers, who haven't beaten the Sharks in their last eight meetings (0-7-1).
Islanders 5, Blackhawks 2 -- Rick DiPietro turned aside 30 shots, and Alexei Yashin scored the decisive goal in host New York's victory over Chicago.
Jassen Cullimore and Denis Arkhipov scored for the Blackhawks, who snapped a three-game shutout streak but lost their sixth straight game.
Predators 3, Canucks 2 -- Streaking Nashville jumped to a 2-0 lead, then sneaked past host Vancouver on Steve Sullivan's breakaway goal with 5:41 left.
The Predators are 7-0-1 since losing their first three games of the season, their lone blemish an overtime loss to the Canucks 10 days earlier.
