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Saturday, Oct. 14 7:00pm ET
Zubrus powers Montreal with hat trick | |||||
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MONTREAL (AP) -- The Montreal Canadiens have to do their best with the lineup that's available. Dainius Zubrus was an unlikely hero for the Canadiens against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night. Zubrus completed his first career hat trick by scoring the game-tying goal with 24 seconds left in the third period, and Patrice Brisebois scored at 2:39 of overtime to give the Canadiens a 5-4 win over the Blackhawks. The Canadiens raised their record to 2-3, including two wins at home, despite learning before the game that captain Saku Koivu will miss the next 12 weeks due to a knee injury. "We definitely miss him, he's a huge part of our team," Zubrus said. "What we've got to realize is, what we've got in the room is what we've got." Montreal lost a league-leading 536 man-games to injury last season and missed the playoffs for the second straight year. Trailing 4-3 after Chicago scored twice with less than eight minutes remaining in the third, Zubrus tied the score in the final minute and forced overtime. Brisebois put a shot past Blackhawks goalie Jocelyn Thibault to give Montreal its second straight win at home. "We don't want to tie, we want to go for a win," Brisebois said. "Four-on-four, that can happen. I don't want to miss my chance. That's it." Tony Amonte rallied Chicago by scoring with less than eight minutes left in the third and assisting on Eric Daze's go-ahead goal just over three minutes later as the Blackhawks took a 4-3 lead. Amonte took a pass from Alexei Zhamnov and fired a shot past Canadiens goalie Jeff Hackett 12:14 into the third for his third goal of the season, tying the game at 3. Daze scored his first goal of the season at 15:19 when he scored off Amonte's drop pass in the slot. "The good thing about this game is that we got a point," Thibault said. "That's what's positive about it. We came up 24 seconds short of a win." Zubrus, who had only two two-goal games in his career, scored his second of the game 1:43 into the third to put the Canadiens ahead 3-2. Zhamnov, who had a goal and two assists, opened the scoring with a power-play goal with 15 seconds left in the first. Zubrus tied the game at 1 when he took Sergei Zholtok's pass, moved around Blackhawks defenseman Stephane Quintal and fired a wrist shot over Thibault's left shoulder 10:48 into the second. "I got caught flat-footed," Quintal said. "We turned the puck over and I was trying to stand up. He scored a great goal." Brian Savage scored his second of the season on a power play with 1:58 left in the second as Montreal took a 2-1 lead. Anders Eriksson scored 1:34 later, tying the game at 2 with just 24 seconds remaining in the period. "We've got to play tighter at the end of the period," Brisebois said. Game notesMontreal, which won its 91st home opener Tuesday, is 0-3 on the road. ... Koivu left Wednesday's game against New York midway through the first period after a collision with Rangers forward Eric Lacroix. The 25-year-old Finnish center, who had two goals and two assists in four games, will have surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn ligament in his left knee. ... The game was the only regular season meeting between the two teams this season. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Chicago Clubhouse Montreal Clubhouse Canadiens' Koivu needs surgery, will sit at least three months
RECAPS Montreal 5 Chicago 4 AUDIO/VIDEO   Patrice Brisebois puts in the overtime goal.avi: 681 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||