Canadiens Wear Down Senators in 3-1 Win

MONTREAL (AP) _ The Montreal Canadiens have perfected a unique method of wearing down their opponents. <br/><br/>Sheldon Souray, Mark Streit and Tomas Plekanec scored 2:24 apart in the second period to

Tuesday, January 30th 2007, 7:07 am

By: News On 6

MONTREAL (AP) _ The Montreal Canadiens have perfected a unique method of wearing down their opponents.

Sheldon Souray, Mark Streit and Tomas Plekanec scored 2:24 apart in the second period to lead Montreal to a 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Monday night.

The Canadiens retired Hall of Fame goalie Ken Dryden's No. 29 and raised it to the rafters before backup David Aebischer stopped 26 straight shots after he was beaten by Chris Phillips' long floater on Ottawa's first shot 52 seconds in.

The game started about 75 minutes later than usual following a long ceremony honoring Dryden.

``We're lucky because we see this all the time,'' said Souray, who tied it at 1 with his 17th goal on a power play at 10:55 of the middle period.

Streit gave Montreal the lead when he beat Ray Emery through the legs on a breakaway at 12:01.

Plekanec scored his 10th at 13:19, a short-handed effort that put the Canadiens up by two. Montreal went on to end Ottawa's two-game winning streak.

The New York Rangers beat Boston 6-1 in the only other game in the NHL on Monday night.

The Canadiens retired Serge Savard's No. 18 prior to a 3-1 win over Atlanta on Nov. 18. The storied franchise _ which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2009 _ retired the numbers of Bernie Geoffrion, Dickie Moore and Yvan Cournoyer last season. Montreal plans additional ceremonies each of the next two seasons leading up to its centennial.

``It's like one ceremony after another with all these great players so I don't want to say it's losing its luster _ it never does _ but we're really fortunate here to play for an organization that's had so many great players throughout the years and they have so much respect throughout the league,'' Souray said.

``I mean, it's the Montreal Canadiens, so to honor Mr. Dryden tonight was, I'm sure, a huge honor for him and it just shows you the class the Canadiens have. It was just another ceremony we were a part of so it's another memory for us.''

Hall of Fame Russian goalie Vladislav Tretiak took part at Dryden's invitation, along with Dryden's older brother, former NHL and WHA goalie Dave Dryden.

The Senators fell behind Montreal into third in the Northeast Division despite losing in regulation for just the third time in 16 games (12-3-1).

``There are going to be games ... you're not going to win all of them,'' Ottawa defenseman Wade Redden said. ``They obviously had their backs against the wall, there was a lot of talk about them coming out, the way things have been going for them, so we knew they were going to be hungry. It was disappointing when we got the start and we didn't keep at them.''

Montreal, which lost 4-1 in Toronto on Saturday, won for the third time in four games to move into fourth overall in the Eastern Conference with 61 points, one ahead of Ottawa.

``We stuck with our system. Sometimes it wasn't very pretty but we did what we had to do,'' Souray said. ``When we just pay attention to some of those little details, we're a pretty good team. We played against a team that's been on a pretty good roll.''

The Senators did not take the ice until the pregame skate that followed the raising of Dryden's banner. Several Ottawa players _ Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, Ray Emery, Chris Neil and Brian McGrattan, among them _ watched the ceremony from the corridor outside the dressing room.

``I kept peeking my head in and out. I wanted to see the jersey go up,'' Spezza said. ``I'm a bit of a hockey historian and it's a special day to see something like that. He's one of the greatest goalies, arguably, ever and I don't think it affected the game too much. We want to get home now, though.''

Redden treaded lightly when the subject of the delay was broached.

``It was an inconvenience, I guess,'' Redden said. ``Just the whole hour, to begin with, was long enough. It's obviously the same thing for them.''

Rangers 6, Bruins 1

At Boston, Petr Prucha scored two goals and assisted on another, and linemates Matt Cullen and Jed Ortmeyer also had three points in the Rangers' victory over the Bruins.

Brendan Shanahan scored his team-leading 25th goal on a penalty shot in the third period for the Rangers, who have won two straight road games following the All-Star break. New York has beaten Boston six consecutive times, including twice this month.

The Rangers were whistled for only four penalties, but registered two short-handed goals _ one by Cullen, and Shanahan's penalty-shot tally that made it 5-1. Michael Nylander closed the scoring with a power-play tally at 7:39.

The Bruins have lost three straight _ scoring just two goals _ and are 3-9-1 in their last 13 games. Patrice Bergeron got Boston even at 1 with a power-play goal in the first period.

Cullen added two assists, and Ortmeyer had three as the Rangers' third line dominated the first two periods. Defenseman Michal Rozsival scored in the second, assisted by Prucha and Cullen.