NHL ROUNDUP | Tuesday's games

Canadiens 5, Islanders 3
UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Long Island native Christopher Higgins scored two goals to help Montreal beat the Islanders in the first game for both teams since the Olympic break. Higgins, from Smithtown, made it 3-0 with 42 seconds left in the second period, firing a wrist shot past goalie Garth Snow on a rush down the left wing, and beat U.S. Olympian Rick DiPietro with a high wrist shot at 8:34 of the third. Higgins, the 22-year-old former Yale star selected 14th overall in the 2002 draft, has nine goals in his first full season with Montreal. He scored his first NHL goal Oct. 6 at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. Cristobal Huet, making his seventh straight start in goal for the Canadiens with Jose Theodore sidelined by a broken right heel, made 32 saves for the victory in Montreal's first game on a six-game, 10-day trip. Craig Rivet, rookie Alexander Perezhogin and Michael Ryder had power-play goals for Montreal, eighth in the Eastern Conference with 62 points. The Canadiens have earned 10 out of a possible 12 points in their last six games, going 4-0-2. Miroslav Satan scored twice and Mark Parrish added a goal for the Islanders, eight points behind the Canadiens in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Parrish beat Huet off a rebound 2 minutes into the third period, and Satan added his team-leading 25th and 26th goals in a 2:54-span late in the period. Perezhogin opened the scoring on a power play at 11:48 of the first period, beating Snow with a backhand shot from the slot. Rivet made it 2-0 with 4:05 left in the second, tipping Alexei Kovalev's long shot past Snow. Snow, making his second start in three games since returning from injuries to both knees, made only 10 saves in the first two periods before being replaced by DiPietro at the start of the third. Ryder beat DiPietro on a two-man advantage at 6:11 of the third, the Montreal right wing's team-leading 24th goal of the season.
Panthers 8, Lightning 2
TAMPA, Fla. -- Chris Gratton, Olli Jokinen and Joe Nieuwendyk each had two goals to help Florida. Nieuwendyk and Jokinen also had an assist for three-point games. Martin Gelinas and Joel Kwiatkowski had the other Florida goals, while Roberto Luongo made 32 saves. Vincent Lecavalier and Ryan Craig scored for Tampa Bay. John Grahame was pulled at 3:35 of the second after allowing four goals on 13 shots. Tampa Bay went 11-3-1 over its last 15 games before the Olympic break. Florida was 6-6-3 over the same stretch.
Capitals 5, Maple Leafs 3
TORONTO -- Matt Pettinger scored twice and the Capitals ended a four-game losing streak. Rookie sensation Alex Ovechkin, Brian Willsie and Ben Clymer also scored for the Capitals, who improved to 3-1 against Toronto. Ovechkin has 37 goals. Nik Antropov, Darcy Tucker and Chad Kilger scored for the Maple Leafs, who are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in coach Pat Quinn's seven-year tenure. Toronto fans loudly booed the Maple Leafs as the final buzzer sounded on their third straight loss. The Leafs are three points behind Montreal for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Ed Belfour allowed five goals on 27 shots, including two weak goals in the first minutes of the game. Fans jeered the 40-year-old after he made a couple of easy saves after that.
Associated Press