OTTAWA (AP) – Ray Emery won his NHL-record ninth straight game to start his career, stopping 27 shots to lead the Senators to a 4-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.

The 23-year-old Emery broke the record of eight straight wins set by Philadelphia’s Bob Froese during the 1982-83 season. Emery is 6-0 this season after winning once in 2002-03 season and twice in 2003-04.

Dany Heatley extended his point streak to 21 games, and Jason Spezza – the NHL’s offensive player of the week – scored for the fifth straight game and picked up his 30th assist of the season on Daniel Alfredsson’s team-leading 20th goal.

Heatley, the other winger on Ottawa’s potent top line, also drew an assist on Alfredsson’s goal 5:45 into the second period, prompting a loud cheer from the team-record crowd of 19,858. He is the only player in the league to record a point in each of his team’s games this season.

Acquired from Atlanta in a trade for Marian Hossa before the season, Heatley is within one game of tying the record for the longest point streak with a new team. Wayne Gretzky had a 22-game streak to begin his stint with the Los Angeles Kings in 1988-89.

Montreal, which has lost three straight and five of six, dressed 19 players, one less than standard. The Canadiens had to make do with five defenseman, including Jean-Philippe Cote who made his NHL debut after being called up from Hamilton of the AHL earlier in the day.

Having already lost Sheldon Souray to injury and Andrei Markov to an automatic three-game suspension for pushing a linesman at the end of Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss in Toronto, Montreal found itself one short on the blue line when Mike Komisarek was forced to leave the team because of a family emergency and minor leaguer Ron Hainsey was claimed off waivers by Columbus.

Martin Havlat and Mike Fisher also scored for Eastern Conference-leading Ottawa, which won its sixth straight to tie its season-high winning streak to begin the season. Havlat suffered a dislocated right shoulder early in the third period when he slammed into the boards after an open ice hit by Montreal’s Michael Ryder.

Spezza, who entered the game in a four-way tie with Alfredsson, Philadelphia’s Peter Forsberg, and the New York Rangers’ Jaromir Jagr for league scoring lead with 39 points, opened the scoring with a power-play goal 8:39 in. Spezza took a pass from defenseman Zdeno Chara and stepped up before firing a shot over Jose Theodore’s right shoulder for his 11th goal of the season.

Alfredsson made it 2-0 when he got behind Cote early in the second. Left alone to take Heatley’s pass, the Senators’ captain spun to his left to put a quick shot beyond Theodore at 5:45.

Cote was in the penalty box serving an interference penalty Havlat added another power-play goal 8:12 into the period.

Fisher added insult to injury as Theodore stumbled while positioning himself to face a breakaway, sprawling out of position while the Senators’ forward slipped the puck past him for Ottawa’s fourth and final goal.

Notes: The Canadiens outshot Ottawa 27-26 overall, including 12-9 in the second. … Senators G Dominik Hasek has yet to face Montreal this season. The two-time NHL MVP is 13-3-0 in 16 starts and leads the NHL with a 1.92 goals-against-average and a .934 save percentage. … Ottawa RW Chris Neil assisted on Spezza’s goal as he returned to the lineup after missing three games following his mother’s death in a car accident a week earlier. … Cote is the son of former Quebec Nordiques forward Alain Cote.

AP-ES-11-29-05 2220EST

Copy the Story Link