Halak is the saviour for Canadiens

Jaroslav Halak made more than 40 saves as the Montreal Canadiens beat Ottawa to move joint top of their division.

Jaroslav Halak made a season-high 45 saves to help the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators. The victory moved Montreal to joint top of the Northeast Division alongside the Senators. Michael Cammalleri scored his 17th goal of the season for the Canadiens, with Marc-Andre Bergeron, Andrei Kostitsyn and Scott Gomez adding the others.

Mike Fisher scored for Senators, who outshot their visitors 46-27. "He [Halak] was the reason we won the game tonight, for sure," Cammalleri said. "He was solid from the start. We needed him right away." "They came out hard and they were shooting," said Halak. "That's when I got in the game." The Senators were coming off a five-game road trip and looking to win their sixth consecutive home game. The captain Mike Richards, Claude Giroux and Jeff Carter scored twice apiece as Philadelphia Flyers routed the New York Islanders 6-2 to give their new coach Peter Laviolette his first win in charge.

"It feels nice to win a hockey game, and finally get a couple bounces," Richards said. "We executed a lot of plays. We were finishing chances." Brian Boucher played in goal for the Flyers, as the usual starter Ray Emery will be sidelined for six weeks after surgery on a torn stomach muscle. John Tavares scored twice for the Islanders. Martin Erat scored his second NHL hat-trick as Nashville enjoyed a 4-2 win over Vancouver.

The right winger also added an assist as the Predators claimed a first home win over Vancouver since November 2006. Ryan Kesler and Daniel Sedin scored for the Canucks, who could not prevent their opponents moving within three points of the divisional leaders Chicago Blackhawks. "Right now, we have guys that can play a lot better, that have to play a lot better," the Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said.

"We need to start watching the standings here a little bit more and the importance of these games right now that we're finding ways to lose." Saku Koivu's overtime goal gave the Anaheim Ducks a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars. Dan Sexton scored his first two NHL goals for the Ducks as the home team came from 3-0 down to win for the first time in five games. The Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said: "He scored two big goals. He probably doesn't realise how big they are for our hockey club.

"He's a young guy who made an impression in training camp - not big in stature and size, but huge in heart." * With agencies