CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- Brian Savage picked up the Montreal Canadiens' offense in a hurry.

Savage scored three goals Friday night to lead the Canadiens to their first win of the season, 4-1 over the winless Calgary Flames.

	Montreal's Turner Stevenson and Calgary's Wade Belak both drew fighting majors in the first period Friday.

Saku Koivu assisted on all three goals by Savage as the Canadiens' offense finally came to life after scoring just once in each of their opening two losses.

In a pattern that has marked all three of Calgary's losses, the key goal came as a result of a turnover, this time by goaltender Fred Brathwaite in the third period.

Brathwaite left his net to backhand a puck up the side boards but his clearing attempt was cut off by Koivu, who fed a wide-open Savage in the slot. Savage then beat Brathwaite to give Montreal a 3-1 lead with 12:12 left in regulation.

"It was a great job by Saku to find me in the slot," said Savage. "I don't know where their defense was, I just put (it) in the far side."

Savage completed his fourth career hat trick by scoring into an empty net with 17 seconds left.

Craig Darby also scored for the Canadiens, who conclude a three-game road trip Saturday night in Vancouver.

"This is a good win for our team, we definitely didn't want to go down 0 and 3," said Savage. "We got some bad breaks in our first couple games which could have gone either way. This is a good little boost heading into Vancouver."

Calgary's goal was scored by former Canadien Valeri Bure. The Flames have lost two in a row at home.

After a scoreless first period, Savage's goal gave Montreal the initial lead at 9:17 of the second.

Brathwaite leaped across the crease to rob Savage at the side of the net but after banking his rebound off the side of the net, Savage made good on a third try by spinning around to flip in a backhander while on his knees.

Bure tied the game on a power play at 11:08 of the second period, but Darby broke the tie at 16:17 by banging in a centering pass from Trevor Linden.

"We deserved a better fate tonight but the one mistake cost us," said Calgary coach Brian Sutter. "We had a lot of players that played really well tonight and it's a shame that those efforts were wasted."

After a couple of average games by Grant Fuhr, Sutter gave Brathwaite his first start in goal and got a solid game.

Brathwaite, a fan favourite in Calgary since joining the Flames last January, made several acrobatic stops among his 22 saves. Jeff Hackett was solid when called upon to make 22 stops in his third straight start for Montreal.

"Hack settled us down in the first period and we played well in the second and third," said Savage.

Both teams lost defenseman in the first period, with Craig Rivet and Derek Morris getting hurt in a fight with each other. Rivet suffered a cracked cheekbone and Morris reinjured his right hand.