Rough Saturday evening for Andrei Kostitsyn.

The Montreal Canadiens played the Phoenix Coyotes at the Bell centre tonight. As far as the final score is concerned, the Canadiens disposed easily of the Coyotes by the score of 4-1.

But the match itself was a tough encounter. Many times, we saw some pushing after the whistles and the fans witnessed a few brawls, especially during the second period. The incident that initiated the rough stuff came during that second frame when Kurt Sauer used one of his elbow to pin Andrei Kostitsyn hard into the boards. The forward stayed on the ice for a long period of time before being escorted outside the rink.

Tom Kostopoulos and Georges Laraque came to Kostitsyn's defense and fought with Kurt Sauer and Todd Fedoruk during that long second period. Andrei Kostitsyn never came back to the ice, his physical condition will be evaluated this weekend.

As for the scoring in this game, Montreal scored twice during the first period. Alex Tanguay and Saku Koivu continued on their great early season momentum with a goal each. Then into the second frame, Alex Tanguay scored his second of the game while Robert Lang gave a 4-0 lead to the Canadiens.

Shane Doan avoided the shutout halfway into the third period and was the only player to beat goaltender Carey Price. After six games, the Canadiens is one of the few teams without a loss registered during regulation this season.

(Picture: Andrei Kostitsyn, Canadian Press.)