NHL: Montreal 6, Tampa Bay 2

TAMPA, Fla., March 4 (UPI) -- Chris Higgins scored Montreal's first two goals Saturday as the Canadiens posted a 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Richard Zednik, Mike Ribeiro, Alex Kovalev and Jan Bulis each scored a goal for Montreal, which won its third straight. Michael Ryder and Mathieu Dandenault each had a pair of assists and Cristobal Huet made 27 saves for Montreal.

Ruslan Fedotenko and Vincent Lecavalier scored the only two goals for Tampa Bay. John Grahame had 16 saves for the Lightning.

Higgins scored on a wrist shot from the left circle 12 seconds after the first face-off, and scored his second goal 4:54 into the second period on a power-play wrister in the top left corner of the goal.