MONTREAL (AP) — Saku Koivu scored twice and Carey Price made 28 saves to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
Andrei Kostitsyn and Alex Kovalev also scored for Montreal, which had lost six straight at the Bell Centre (0-4-2).
Toronto defenseman Bryan McCabe broke his left hand when he was checked into the boards by Kostitsyn in the Canadiens’ zone on the play that led to Kovalev’s goal.
Maple Leafs coach Paul Maurice was livid about Kostitsyn’s part in the injury. He said McCabe’s hand was broken in three spots and that a best-case scenario for his return was “six to eight weeks.”
“It’s not a natural thing,” Maurice said. “It’s not like getting hit into the boards where you can recover, but when you get hog-tied around the throat and you go back into the boards … that’s just brutal.”
Price, a 20-year-old rookie making his sixth straight start, came within 4:06 of recording his first career shutout.
Boyd Devereaux scored for Toronto – his fifth of the season – 15:54 into the third period.
The Maple Leafs had won two straight, and six of seven.
Vesa Toskala stopped 21 shots a night after making 24 saves for his second shutout of the season in a 4-0 win Friday in Atlanta.
Koivu, who hadn’t scored since Nov. 17, got the Canadiens on their way just short of midway through the first when he went behind the net and stopped suddenly before putting a sharp-angled backhand across the goalmouth to end a 12-game drought. The puck struck Maple Leafs defenseman Hal Gill’s left skate and caromed past Toskala.
Chris Higgins got his second straight assist as the captain made it 2-0 early in the second. Koivu took Higgins’ centering pass off his right skate and cut past Toskala to score his second of the game.
Kostitsyn made it a 3-0 lead with his sixth goal at 11:17, and Kovalev increased the lead to 4-0 with his 14th goal 8:32 into the third.
Canadiens right wing Sergei Kostitsyn, Andrei’s younger brother, assisted on Koivu’s first-period goal for his first career point. Sergei Kostitsyn was recalled from Hamilton on Thursday and made his NHL debut in the Canadiens’ 4-1 win in Philadelphia.
Notes: Four fans behind the Maple Leafs bench were removed by security guards in the third period after a couple of drinks were poured over the glass – Matt Stajan was doused by one drink. … Canadiens G Cristobal Huet dressed as Price’s backup after missing five games because of a groin injury. Huet has Montreal’s only other shutout this season. … The Canadiens returned G Jaroslav Halak to Hamilton of the AHL earlier in the day.
