Canadiens Stop Thrashers

Even a modest two-game winning streak is something for the struggling Montreal Canadiens to take pride in.

Shayne Corson and Scott Thornton scored their first goals as Montreal won two straight games for just the second time this season, beating the Atlanta Thrashers 4-2 on Saturday night.

"I'm proud of the guys," Corson said. "They worked hard. But it's only two wins, so we can't get excited. It seems that we've played in a lot of one-goal games so it was nice to win by two. But we need wins."

Zholtok's goal from a bad angle midway through the third period gave Montreal a 4-2 lead.

"We'll take goals any way we can get them," Rucinsky said. "There are not many pretty goals being scored in the league nowadays. You get shots that are tipped, goals from scrambles and screen shots. That's fine with me."

The news wasn't all good for Montreal. Center Saku Koivu, who was reunited with linemates Savage and Dainius Zubrus after missing five games because of a shoulder injury, saw little action in the third after e reinjured himself taking a faceoff.

"I was hoping to have our top two lines together for a while," said Montreal head coach Alain Vigneault, already missing key regulars Benoit Brunet, Patrice Brisebois and Vladimir Malakhov. "But after what's happened so far this year, you never know."

Ed Ward and Yannick Tremblay scored for the Thrashers, who lost their fourth game in a row and sixth straight on the road. Atlanta's power play went 0-for-6.

"The work ethic and commitment of our team is excellent, but we struggle scoring goals and our penalty killing just can't get it done," Atlanta coach Curt Fraser said. "We've got to find a way to get the puck in the net. But I can't fault the guys. I felt that they controlled the whole game."

Montreal outshot Atlanta 23-21.

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