Sharks Bite Canadiens

Vincent Damphousse made himself right at home.

The former Montreal captain Vincent Damphousse assisted on Owen Nolan's two goals as the San Jose Sharks beat the Canadiens 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Damphousse, facing the Canadiens for the first time since he was dealt to San Jose at the trading deadline last season, has six goals and 16 assists this season.

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"I was really nervous at the beginning, I didn't know what to expect from the fans and from myself," Damphousse said. "I was expecting a big game and I didn't want to miss my opportunity."

Damphousse, who spent seven seasons in Montreal, admitted when this season's schedule came out the first thing he did was look for his first game against his old team.

"It's always going to be like that," Damphousse said. "I've always liked playing here and it's my hometown so there's no question that it was the first thing I looked at."

Nolan understands Damphousse's excitement.

"I know, getting traded from Colorado, I always wanted to play well against the team I got traded from. I'm sure any guy in the league does," Nolan said. "He was excited. He's been ready all day and he came up big for us."

Ron Sutter and Alexander Korolyuk added goals, and Mike Vernon made 25 saves for his 350th career victory to help the Sharks end a four-game winless streak. Karl Dykhuis scored for Montreal.

Nolan, who has 14 goals this season, gave San Jose a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 7:25 of the second period. He tapped Jeff Frieen's pass by goalie Jeff Hackett.

Sutter scored 11:01 into the third, and Nolan made it 4-1 on a pass from Damphousse at 14:47.

"It's our fault," Canadiens forward Turner Stevenson said. "We just took the night off. We don't want to go on the road like this. We had no effort and we have no excuses."

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