Montreal hammers Devils to take lead

BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The Montreal Canadiens moved back into first place in the Eastern Conference after beating the New Jersey Devils 4-0 in Montreal on Tuesday, with rookie goaltender Carey Price stopping 38 shots.

The Devils held a one-point lead over the Canadiens coming into the game but could not get the puck past Price, firing 33 of their 38 shots in the first two periods.

The 20-year-old Price moved to 5-2 since Montreal traded Cristobal Huet to the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline and put their faith in a rookie netminder. Price had his second shutout.

Bryan Smolinski and Finn Saku Koivu scored first-period goals. Maxim Lapierre added another in the second and Michael Ryder rounded it off in the third period to give the Canadiens their third successive win over the Devils.

Smolinski's goal was his 19th in 45 career games against New Jersey.

"They play a disciplined style, and you have to do the same," he told reporters.

Martin Brodeur made his 29th successive start for New Jersey, making 28 saves but his team saw its three-game winning streak stopped. Brodeur allowed only three goals in those three games and was beaten by Smolinski from a sharp angle.

"The bottom line is he's still one of the best in the game," Smolinski said.

"(Teammate Tom Kotsopoulos) did a good job of giving me some room and getting the pass to me. Did I fool Brodeur? I think I fooled myself."

The Canadiens won the game after returning from a 2-2 west coast trip.

New Jersey, who have a one-point lead over the idle Pittsburgh Penguins atop the Atlantic Division, have scored just 12 goals in their last eight games but have gone 4-3-1 over that span.

In other National Hockey League games, it was: Red Wings 3, Blackhawks 1; Avalanche 5, Thrashers 2; Lightning 8, Islanders 4; Senators 4, Bruins 1; Sharks 2, Predators 1; Oilers 4, Blues 3 (in overtime); Maple Leafs 4, Flyers 3; and Coyotes 3, Ducks 2 (in a shootout).

In Detriot, the revved-up Red Wings beat the Blackhawks to record their fourth successive victory and close in on a playoff spot.

With their league-best 46th win, the Red Wings need two more victories from their final 12 games to clinch a 17th consecutive Stanley Cup playoffs berth and extend the longest current streak in North American professional sport.

Major League Baseball's New York Yankees sit a distant second with 13 consecutive playoff appearances.

Detroit sputtered through a bad February that saw it finish the month with just one win in 11 games, but now looks to have turned the corner.

"We've got a way to go, intensity wise, focus wise, 60-minute game wise, you just have to continue to get better," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "It's nice to see we have won four in a row, we're getting our confidence back but we still got a long way to go."

Chris Chelios, the Wings' 46-year-old defenseman, was back on the ice on Tuesday after missing six games with a knee injury. Fellow defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski and Niklas Kronwall returned to action last week.

Detroit's Kirk Maltby and Chicago's Rene Bourque traded first-period goals before Pavel Datsyuk intercepted a clearing pass with five minutes remaining in the second and snapped a wrist shot past rookie netminder Corey Crawford to put the home side in front 2-1. Johan Franzen sealed the contest in the last minute of the third period.

(Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies)