Maxim Lapierre, Steve Begin and Matt D'Agostini each had a goal and an assist, as the Montreal Canadiens stayed hot at home with a 6-2 win over the New York Rangers. Alex Tanguay, Robert Lang and Andrei Kostitsyn each lit the lamp for the Canadiens, who have gotten off to a 3-0 start on their current seven-game homestand. Montreal is 8-2-2 so far this season at the Bell Centre. Georges Laraque and Andrei Markov each had two assists for the Canadiens, while Carey Price faced just 20 shots, stopping 18 of them. Nigel Dawes and Markus Naslund scored for the Rangers, who had won four of five coming into the contest. Henrik Lundqvist allowed all six goals on 39 shots in the loss.
Jiri Hudler and Daniel Cleary each scored a pair of goals to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 6-5 win over the Vancouver Canucks as the two teams put an early wrap on their season series from Joe Louis Arena.