-- Donald Audette had heard enough about his long scoring drought.
Audette got his first goal in nearly a year, and Yanic Perreault scored twice to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-1 victory Saturday night over the New Jersey Devils.
Held without a goal in 23 games since last Nov. 24, Audette opened the scoring 4:01 in for his first point in 13 games this season.
"It's a relief -- hopefully we can stop talking about it,'' Audette said. "Let's move on. The first one's always the hardest one to get.''
Perreault scored late in the second period and added his second goal of the game and eighth of the season early in the third.
Jose Theodore made 23 saves, allowing only Colin White's goal at 6:22 of the third, to help end Montreal's two-game losing streak. The Canadiens lost 5-1 in New Jersey on Friday, when Jeff Hackett faced a 44-shot barrage.
"The way we played yesterday and the way we played tonight, it's totally two different teams,'' Theodore said. "The way we played tonight, that's the way we can play and we should play.''
The Devils had won two in a row and four of their last six games.
"They played a lot more patient and it paid off for them,'' Devils goalie Martin Brodeur said. "They waited for mistakes, they worked really hard down low and got some goals off it.''
Audette, who missed 49 games last season because of a severely lacerated forearm, had been a healthy scratch in four games this season.
He ended his scoring drought early in the first period, when he took Saku Koivu's pass as he drove to the net and beat Brodeur.
"I had a lot of good games before, I just didn't get the result,'' Audette said. "The chances are there. If they start going in, that's good.''
Perreault gave the Canadiens a two-goal lead with 0:41 left in the second. Doug Gilmour fed a backhand pass to Perreault, who one-timed a shot past Brodeur from the faceoff circle.
Perreault made it 3-0 3:59 into the third, driving to the net and putting his own rebound past Brodeur. The play was reviewed and ruled a goal.
"We didn't play very well last night and we knew that,'' Perreault said. "We had a good meeting this morning and for the first time, I think we played 60 minutes. We cut down on their chances against and Theo made some great saves, but we played better as a team tonight.''
White ruined Theodore's shutout bid with 13:38 with a sharp-angled shot over the Montreal goalie's left shoulder.
"Goals at the end of the period are always hard to recover from, and after that, they got that fluky goal when Perreault ran into me,'' Brodeur said. "Now we're down 3-0 early in the third. We made a little run in the end, but it was not enough.''
| SCORING |
PENALTIES |
First Period: 1, Montreal, Donald Audette 1 (Saku Koivu, Chad Kilger), 4:01.
Second Period: 2, Montreal, Yanic Perreault 7 (Doug Gilmour, Andrei Markov), 19:19.
Third Period: 3, Montreal, Yanic Perreault 8 (Jan Bulis), 3:59. 4, New Jersey, Colin White 3 (Jeff Friesen, Ken Daneyko), 6:22. |
First Period: C Rivet, Mon (holding stick), 0:41; J Nieuwendyk, Njd (boarding), 19:03.
Second Period: P Brisebois, Mon (slashing), 1:39; C Berglund, Njd (holding), 3:58; C Kilger, Mon (obstr hooking), 13:31; C Kilger, Mon (interference), 16:08.
Third Period: M Danton, Njd (fighting), 5:17; B Lindsay, Mon (fighting), 5:17; Y Perreault (high sticking), 7:58.
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Attendance: 21,273.
Referees: Kerry Fraser, Marc Joannette.
Linesmen: Mark Wheler, Troy Sartison.
