MONTREAL -- He may not have seen the puck go into the net, but Montreal forward Yvon Lambert knew he had the winning goal.
Lambert's power-play marker at 10:46 of the final period broke a 4-4 tie Tuesday night and led the Canadiens to a 5-4 victory over the Quebec Nordiques. It was Montreal's third victory in a row.
'I didn't know I had scored the goal,' said Lambert, who registered his fourth season tally. 'I was standing in front of the net; somebody was on my back and I saw (Guy) Lapointe let it go towards the net.
'The next thing I knew, the red light was on.'
Lambert said the team had worked hard for the win.
'It's so important to have goals on the power play,' said Lambert. 'We always work hard at it. It wasn't an easy game for us. Their goalie (Michel Plasse) made some big saves.'
Still, Lambert feels the Canadiens, who had struggled at the start of the season, are beginning to turn the corner.
'We're playing a lot better,' he added. 'We have a lot more confidence.'
Montreal trailed 4-3 in the third period, but Guy Lafleur knotted it with his sixth goal at 3:35. Mark Napier, Steve Shutt and Rejean Houle also scored for the Canadiens.
Czech defectors Peter and Anton Stastny each scored for Quebec, while the Nordiques got their other markers from Jamie Hislop and Michel Goulet.
The triumph gives Montreal 11 points and puts them into an overall tie with the Washington Capitals, eight points behind first-place Los Angeles Kings.
'It's a start,' said Montreal defenseman Larry Robinson. 'There still is a lot of improvement for us to do. You can never be satisfied, especially when you let the other team score four goals against you.'
The loss left Quebec coach Michel Bergeron still winless since he took over the team from Maurice Filion seven games ago, on Oct. 20. But Bergeron sees a light ahead.
'It's going to take a little longer for us to get going, because of the key injuries we have,' he said. 'We played a good game tonight, but that last penalty, hurt us.'
