Carey Price

Montreal defenseman Josh Gorges scored with only 12.8 seconds left in overtime, and Carey Price made 43 saves in the Canadiens' season-opening 4-3 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night. The Canadiens were badly outshot and thoroughly outplayed through two periods but found a way to hang around and win. They got some help from former teammate Mike Komisarek, who was in the penalty box for two Montreal goals. Brian Gionta, Travis Moen and Glen Metropolit also scored for the Canadiens.

Craig Anderson made 48 saves in a spectacular performance as the visiting Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2, Thursday night in Game 1 of their playoff series. Jakob Silfverberg and Marc Methot scored early in the third period to give Ottawa a 3-2 lead. Erik Karlsson and Guillaume Latendresse also scored for the Senators, who were outshot, 50-31, but saw Anderson easily win the goaltending duel with Carey Price, who was beaten twice through the pads. Rene Bourque and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal, which set a team record for shots in a regulation-time playoff game.

Tomas Plekanec scored his second goal of the game in overtime and the Montreal Canadiens ended Washington's team-record winning streak at 14 games with a 6-5 victory over the Capitals on Wednesday night. The Capitals, who hadn't lost in nearly a month, fell three wins short of tying the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins' NHL-record streak of 17 games. Brooks Laich tied it at 5-5 for Washington, scoring his third goal of the game with 18.4 seconds left and goalie Jose Theodore pulled for an extra attacker.

BOSTON — David Krejci scored off his skate to break a second-period tie, and Tim Thomas stopped 33 shots on Monday night to lead the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Benoit Pouliot and Brad Marchand also scored for the Bruins, who have won five in a row and 19 of 22 since losing back-to-back games to Montreal at the end of October. Carey Price made 28 saves and Tomas Plekanec scored for Montreal, which lost its third straight game — its second in a row since coach Jacques Martin was fired and replaced by Randy Cunneyworth.

BOSTON — David Krejci scored off his skate to break a second-period tie, and Tim Thomas stopped 33 shots on Monday night to lead the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Benoit Pouliot and Brad Marchand also scored for the Bruins, who have won five in a row and 19 of 22 since losing back-to-back games to Montreal at the end of October. Carey Price made 28 saves and Tomas Plekanec scored for Montreal, which lost its third straight game — its second in a row since coach Jacques Martin was fired and replaced by Randy Cunneyworth.

Craig Anderson made 48 saves in a spectacular performance as the visiting Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2, Thursday night in Game 1 of their playoff series. Jakob Silfverberg and Marc Methot scored early in the third period to give Ottawa a 3-2 lead. Erik Karlsson and Guillaume Latendresse also scored for the Senators, who were outshot, 50-31, but saw Anderson easily win the goaltending duel with Carey Price, who was beaten twice through the pads. Rene Bourque and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal, which set a team record for shots in a regulation-time playoff game.

Justine Henin reached the semifinals of the Unicef Open at Den Bosch, Netherlands, without dropping a set in the Wimbledon warmup tournament. Henin defeated Kristina Barrois 7-5, 6-3 to set up a match with fifth-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru , who beat Yaroslava Shvedova , 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. --- Kim Clijsters lost 7-6 (6), 6-4 to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne grass-court tournament at Eastbourne, England. Clijsters dropped just three games in her opening two matches but the Belgian player struggled against Azarenka, who reeled off four games in a row to close out the match.

The meek inherited the East, if not the earth, in the playoffs last spring. The top-seeded Washington Capitals were upset by the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens, who then eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. In the conference final the Canadiens faced the seventh-seeded Philadelphia Flyers, who had upset New Jersey and rallied from an 0-3 deficit against Boston to become only the third team in Stanley Cup playoff history to erase that deficit in a best-of-seven series.

Through Monday 's games (Previous rank) 1. Vancouver 46-16-9. Canucks have won six in a row and lead the NHL with a plus-66 goal differential. Daniel Sedin leads league in points with 90 and twin Henrik in assists with 68. (3) 2. Washington 40-20-10. Capitals have won eight in a row and nine of 10. They've proved they can grind, which should serve them well come playoff time. (6) 3. Chicago 38-24-8. Blackhawks earned four of eight points on their trip to Toronto, Florida, Tampa Bay and Washington.

Joe Thornton scored with only 9.4 seconds left in regulation Tuesday night to give the San Jose Sharks a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames at Calgary, Canada. Thornton tipped Douglas Murray's shot from the point past goalie Miikka Kiprusoff to win a game in which the Sharks trailed twice. The Flames set a franchise low for shots on goal in a playoff game, mustering only 10 against the Sharks' Evgeni Nabokov. The previous low was 15.

Through Monday 's games (Previous rank) 1. Vancouver 46-16-9. Canucks have won six in a row and lead the NHL with a plus-66 goal differential. Daniel Sedin leads league in points with 90 and twin Henrik in assists with 68. (3) 2. Washington 40-20-10. Capitals have won eight in a row and nine of 10. They've proved they can grind, which should serve them well come playoff time. (6) 3. Chicago 38-24-8. Blackhawks earned four of eight points on their trip to Toronto, Florida, Tampa Bay and Washington.

The meek inherited the East, if not the earth, in the playoffs last spring. The top-seeded Washington Capitals were upset by the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens, who then eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. In the conference final the Canadiens faced the seventh-seeded Philadelphia Flyers, who had upset New Jersey and rallied from an 0-3 deficit against Boston to become only the third team in Stanley Cup playoff history to erase that deficit in a best-of-seven series.

Justine Henin reached the semifinals of the Unicef Open at Den Bosch, Netherlands, without dropping a set in the Wimbledon warmup tournament. Henin defeated Kristina Barrois 7-5, 6-3 to set up a match with fifth-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru , who beat Yaroslava Shvedova , 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. --- Kim Clijsters lost 7-6 (6), 6-4 to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne grass-court tournament at Eastbourne, England. Clijsters dropped just three games in her opening two matches but the Belgian player struggled against Azarenka, who reeled off four games in a row to close out the match.

Tomas Plekanec scored his second goal of the game in overtime and the Montreal Canadiens ended Washington's team-record winning streak at 14 games with a 6-5 victory over the Capitals on Wednesday night. The Capitals, who hadn't lost in nearly a month, fell three wins short of tying the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins' NHL-record streak of 17 games. Brooks Laich tied it at 5-5 for Washington, scoring his third goal of the game with 18.4 seconds left and goalie Jose Theodore pulled for an extra attacker.

Montreal defenseman Josh Gorges scored with only 12.8 seconds left in overtime, and Carey Price made 43 saves in the Canadiens' season-opening 4-3 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night. The Canadiens were badly outshot and thoroughly outplayed through two periods but found a way to hang around and win. They got some help from former teammate Mike Komisarek, who was in the penalty box for two Montreal goals. Brian Gionta, Travis Moen and Glen Metropolit also scored for the Canadiens.

Jose Theodore and the Colorado Avalanche withstood another onslaught from the relentless Minnesota Wild for a series-clinching 2-1 victory Saturday night at Denver. Theodore stopped 34 shots, including a glove save on Kim Johnsson's shot with 21 seconds left, and the Avalanche won the Western Conference first-round series in six games.

* San Jose 3, at Detroit 2: The Sharks' Joe Pavelski scored on the first shot of the game. Rookie Devin Setoguchi scored 52 seconds into the second period and also scored the game-winning goal midway through the third period. * at Tampa Bay 3, Toronto 2 (OT): Dan Boyle scored a power-play goal with 2:58 left in overtime to lift the Lightning. John Tortorella tied Bob Johnson for the most NHL wins by an American-born coach with 234.