Kovalev leads Montreal Canadiens over Blackhawks

MONTREAL - Alex Kovalev and Carey Price have stepped up to bolster the Montreal Canadiens' playoff hopes.

Kovalev scored for a fourth straight game 25 seconds in and Price made 28 saves to lead Montreal to a 4-1 victory over the Blackhawks on Tuesday night.

Facing former goaltending partner Cristobal Huet, Price came within 7:42 of recording his first shutout in more than four months but allowed Patrick Sharp's 26th goal.

"It was a pretty sad day for me when he got traded," Price said of Huet. "He was like an older brother to me."

Kovalev, who assisted on Andrei Markov's power-play goal in the second, scored his 23rd goal when he beat Huet with Montreal's first shot as the Canadiens took advantage of Duncan Keith's blind back pass behind his net. He has scored five times during his streak.

"I think Dunc was expecting Kovalev to come on the other side and just reversed the play. Kovy made a good read on it," said Huet, who stopped 29 shots in his first start in two weeks.

The Blackhawks goalie faced his former team for the first time since the Feb. 26, 2008, trade that sent him to the Capitals.

"He was always that guy that I could look up to," said Price, who went 24-12-3 last season as a 20-year-old rookie.

"He was always there for advice, and if I was going through a rough time, he was there to help me out of it. He was everything I needed out of a partner and a veteran guy."

Sharp mustered the only offense for the Hawks, who lost their second in a row following a 3-0-2 run that included a three-game winning streak. They dropped to fifth overall in the West with 91 points, 1 behind fourth-place Calgary.

"If we play hard and we go out there and win games and fight as a team, the standings take care of itself," Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "Obviously, there are things we can't control.

"We had a tough loss against Vancouver the other night and now we don't play them again, so whatever happens away from where we are is out of our control. We've just got to focus on what we can do out there."