Music: {allcanada} Plekanec, Halpern lead Canadiens past Islanders

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

{allcanada} Plekanec, Halpern lead Canadiens past Islanders

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MONTREAL (AP)—Tomas Plekanec (notes) and Jeff Halpern (notes) each had a goal and an assist and the Montreal Canadiens extended their winning streak to three with a 5-3 victory over the New York Islanders on Wednesday night.

Carey Price (notes), who has started each of the Canadiens' games, stopped 18 shots to improve to 6-2-1.

Mathieu Darche (notes) opened the scoring 13:19 in and Travis Moen (notes) made it 2-0 with a short-handed goal at 17:54 to give Montreal its first of four two-goal leads.

Andrei Kostitsyn (notes) scored into an empty net with 1:02 remaining.

James Wisniewski (notes) had three points for New York, including his second assist of the game on Doug Weight's (notes) goal 12:56 into the third that drew the Islanders within one for the third time in the game.

John Tavares (notes) scored New York's second power-play goal early in the third and Dwayne Roloson (notes) made 30 saves.

The Islanders have lost two in a row following a three-game winning streak.

Moen was given a boarding minor for his hit from behind which sent Wisniewski crashing head first into the boards 8:43 into the second.

New York's Zenon Konopka (notes) fought with Moen when the two crossed paths immediately after the Canadiens forward stepped out of the penalty box.

Moen, Konopka and Islanders rookie Nino Niederreiter (notes) were involved in trash talk between the two teams during the pregame warmup.

Michael Cammalleri (notes) sat out Montreal's season opener while serving a one-game suspension for his slash on Niederreiter during a preseason game in Quebec City.

Halpern assisted on Darche's goal 13:19 in and gave Montreal its third two-goal lead at 4-2 with his third goal of the season 6:56 into the third.

Plekanec set up Moen's short-handed goal later in the first that put the Canadiens up 2-0. He slapped a shot from the slot into the top left corner for his fourth goal 7:33 into the second.

Wisniewski also pulled the Islanders within one at 2-1 when he scored with the man advantage late in the first.

Tavares tipped Wisniewski's point shot past Price on a power play 13 seconds into the third to draw New York to 3-2.

Roloson stopped Pouliot on a penalty shot at 7:11 of the third to exact a measure of revenge on the Montreal left wing. The goalie was upset after Pouliot went crashing into him when he was hooked down by Radek Martinek (notes) on a breakaway.

NOTES: Islanders LW Matt Martin (notes), recalled from Bridgeport of the AHL on Monday, made his season debut. He had two assists in five games last season. … Price had an assist on Halpern's goal. … D Ryan O'Byrne (notes) and LW Dustin Boyd (notes) weren't in uniform for Montreal.

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