Habs strikes the Lightning.

The Montreal Canadiens had to bounce back from their pityful performance in Dallas and they did just that. A good collective effort allowed them to dispose of the Tampa Bay Lightning by 5-2.

Head coach Guy Carbonneau has made substantial changes in the Habe lineup for yesterday's game. First, Saku Koivu had Guillaume Latendresse and Sergei Kostitsyn paired with him while Michael Ryder and Christopher Higgins played on the third line along with Maxim Lapierre at center. The changes worked well for this game as the Habs displayed a good cohesion all game long.

Maxim Lapierre opened the score with the first goal of the game during the first period. Then Guillaume Latendresse scored his 10th of the season, sending a juicy rebound behind goaltender Johan Holmqvist. Only 10 seconds into the second period, Alex Kovalev received a gift from Holmqvist who really looked awful on the play.

Tampa's coach John Tortorella had seen enough and took Holmqvist out of the game. The young Karri Ramo came in relief early into the second period. Andrei Markov and Andrei Kostitsyn scored during the third period, giving the Habs a 5-0 lead at the time and forcing Tortorella to send Johan Holmqvist back in the net to finish the game.

There is no rest for Montreal as they will play the Florida Panthers tonight.

(Picture: Guillaume Latendresse and Sergei Kostitsyn, Canadian Press.)