LOS ANGELES (AP) -- It has been a rough season so far for the Montreal Canadiens. Even when they win, they lose.

No surgery for Savage

Montreal's Brian Savage, who has a fractured vertebrae in his neck and substantial swelling of his soft tissues, will not require surgery, Dr. David Mulder said Sunday. Savage needs complete rest for six to eight weeks, said Mulder, the Canadiens' chief doctor. There is no damage to Savage's spinal cord and he has good movement of all his extremities. He is still at Centinela Hospital after being checked by Ian Laperriere of the Kings on Saturday night in Los Angeles.

But the Canadiens' third win in 14 games was overshadowed by a frightening injury to leading goal-scorer Brian Savage, who was wheeled off the ice on a stretcher and hospitalized after taking a thunderous check from Ian Laperriere in the second period.

"I think he's going to be OK," teammate Trevor Linden said. "I don't think it's anything too serious. He had his head down and then he saw it coming, and he got in a funny position. But it wasn't a dirty check."

Savage was injured with 15:40 left in the second. He skated into the Kings' zone, wound up for a 35-foot and fanned on the puck, keeping his eyes focused on the ice during his follow-through.

Laperriere readied himself for the collision and his right shoulder came up under Savage's chin, causing the Montreal player's head to snap violently backward. He lay on the ice for about nine minutes before medical personnel wheeled him off in front of concerned players from both teams -- including Laperriere, who refused to watch replays of the incident later.

"I didn't want to see that," Laperriere said. "I know it was a solid hit -- I heard the noise. I play physical, but I don't think it was a dirty check. He was coming in with his head down and I had to finish my check. If I don't do that, I'm not doing my job."

	Kings goalie Jamie Storr denies Montreal's Patrick Poulin during the first period Saturday in Los Angeles.

Savage, who leads the Canadiens with 12 goals, was transported to Centinela Hospital for tests and an MRI exam.

"I practice with Brian in the summer, and I don't want to hurt him," Laperriere said. "It just happened. It's a physical sport, and it's just too bad I'm the one that hit him. I never want to hurt anyone."

Dainius Zubrus scored twice, including an empty-net goal, and Martin Rucinsky also scored for the Canadiens, who won away from the Molson Centre for the first time since beating Philadelphia 5-4 on Oct. 14.

"I don't know if they underestimated us, but it feels good -- especially against a good team like the Kings," defenseman Karl Dykhuis said. "We know we can win some games, and this is proof right here."

Ziggy Palffy scored twice and Marko Tuomainen also had a goal for the Kings, who lost consecutive games for the first time this season in front of their third sellout crowd in 11 games at Staples Center.

Playing the Kings on the road for the first time in more than two years, the Canadiens looked like anything but a last-place team during the first 12 minutes as they held a huge territorial advantage and grabbed a 2-0 lead.

Zholtok's goal came eight minutes into the contest while Aki Berg was serving a charging penalty for ramming Arron Asham into the boards. Zholtok got a cross-ice pass in front of the net from Oleg Petrov and put the puck past Jamie Storr's glove as the Kings' goalie flopped to his left.

Poulin then got the puck from Petrov at the left of the crease, waited for Storr go down and lifted a short backhander over him.

Less than three minutes later, Garry Galley skated the puck along the left boards and fed it into the slot, where it bounced off Poulin's leg and Dykhuis' stick before Palffy jammed it past Theodore on his second try.

The Canadiens increased their lead to 3-1 less than 2 1/2 minutes after losing Savage. Zholtov skated the puck into the left circle with Kings defenseman Rob Blake hanging all over him and left a short drop pass to Zubrus, who beat Storr to the glove side with a one-timer at 6:44 of the second.

Tuomainen cut Montreal's margin to 3-2 with his fifth goal -- on only his 11th shot on net this season. But Rucinsky responded less than two minutes later with his seventh goal, beating Storr with a backhander after Berg lost the puck to Linden at the red line.