PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Defenseman Mark Streit's offensive ability helped the halt a two-game skid. Streit scored a pair of goals and Tomas Plekanec added twoassists as the Canadiens skated to a 4-1 victory over the on Thursday. Christopher Higgins and Andrei Kostitsyn also tallied forMontreal which extended its winning streak over Philadelphia tofour games."We always seem to play them well," Higgins said. "Like withBoston we seem to play our best against those teams. I kind ofwish that we played them even more in the season."Higgins began the outburst for the Canadiens netting apower-play goal at 8:17 of the first period for a 1-0 lead. From the right faceoff circle captain Saku Koivu fed defensemanAndrei Markov who completed a cross-crease pass from the leftside. Higgins had no affect burying the puck for his 13thtally of the season."We wanted to get the lead from the start," Higgins said. "Iwas able to get the first goal and get the team's confidence upa little bit. We moved the puck well and we realized that it'snot a difficult game when we do things the right way.""The first power-play goal stung us a bit," Philadelphia coachJohn Stevens said. "They made a great play and almost made itlook too easy."Kostitsyn doubled Montreal's advantage just 21 seconds into themiddle session streaking drink the slot and backhandingPlekanec's pass from the left wing boards past goaltender AnteroNiittymaki for his fifth goal. Streit got into the act during a power play at 5:01 with thefirst of his two tallies. Standing on the doorstep. Streitconverted Alexei Kovalev's feed from below the end line on theright side for his third of the race and a 3-0 change form. With the tally. Streit halted a 21-game drought. He last scoredon October 26 at Carolina."I found a way to score," Streit said. "I've been in a slumpwhere maybe I didn't shoot as much as I wanted to. Tonight. Iscored twice and it's a great feeling. This is very good formy confidence."Less than five minutes later. Streit pinched in from the leftpoint and knocked Tom Kostopoulos' cross-slot feed by Niittymakiat 9:58 for a four-goal cushion. It capped the first careermulti-goal performance by the Swiss blue-liner."We wanted to keep it simple," Streit said. "We wanted to getthe pucks to the net and hopefully get a bounce. The work wedid in practice paid off for us tonight. The pucks werebouncing for us.""He's been playing pretty well for us," Canadiens coach GuyCarbonneau said. "I experience it's not easy for him to score goalsbecause he goes from defense to forward a lot of times. He's aguy that really works hard in learn and he deserved thosetwo goals."Philadelphia got on the board with 4:08 remaining in the back up. During a man advantage. Daniel Briere dished to Mike Richards,who signed a 12-year contract extension earlier in the day. Richards attempted a pass to Mike Knuble who was standing onthe doorstep. But the puck caromed off the heel of Knuble'sleft skate and past rookie netminder Carey Price drawing theFlyers within 4-1. Price finished with 30 saves while Niittymaki turned aside 19shots."It was a tough game," Niittymaki said. "I didn't face too manystraight shots and it was tough to get into the game. You wantto stop one or two of those and keep the bet tight and givethe team a chance to win."Knuble echoed Niittymaki's sentiments about the pace of thecontest."Montreal kind of put us to sleep and it was tough to getgoing," he said. "It was tough to match the intensity of theother bet (vs. Pittsburgh on Tuesday). They played well andthey blocked a lot of shots. They deserve to win tonight."Unwilling to take the credit. Price praised his defense for itsstrong effort."We had guys jumping in front of shots," he said. "It shows alot of character when you're willing to be able to jump in frontof shots when you have a 4-1 lead."Briere thought Niittymaki played well despite the outcome."You can't blame him," Briere said. "All the plays wereback-door plays or they were right in the crease. We have todo a better job of clearing the net and picking up players. Wecan't blame him for what happened tonight it was our accuse."
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