MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Even after a successful homestand, the New York Rangers couldn't wait to get back on the road.
Mike Dunham made 34 saves and got the support of two rare power-play goals as the Rangers continued their solid play with a 5-1 victory over the punchless Montreal Canadiens.
It was just the third road game of the season for the Rangers, who were coming off a 3-1-2 homestand that began on October 16. They had not played on the road since dropping their first two games of the campaign.
"It's been great starting at home, being with our families," left wing Chris Simon said. "But it's nice to get on the road, it settles us down. You're not necessarily playing for your fans and your family."
"After our first two road games, we realized things didn't go too well," Dunham added. "Tonight we decided to establish our game inside this locker room."
Before 19,979 fans at the Bell Centre, Dunham kept the Rangers in the game early, stopping all 13 shots he faced in a scoreless first period. He also was sharp early in the second until Yanic Perreault's fluke goal opened the scoring.
"We were sluggish in the first period, but give the game to Mike Dunham," Simon said. "He was our star. He kept us in the game."
Simon scored one of the Rangers' two power-play goals, making it 4-1 with 8:02 left. New York went 2-for-6 with the man advantage after starting the season an NHL-worst 1-for-36.
"Tonight we took advantage of our ability," the bruising Simon said. "We got the puck in deep."
The Rangers scored the game's last five goals in a span of 23:53 bridging the final two periods.
Anson Carter got things started 9:45 into the second with a slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle, tying it with his second goal of the season.
Jamie Lundmark added his second with 1:55 left in the period, taking a breakout pass from rookie Dominic Moore before blasting a slap shot past goaltender Jose Theodore from above the high slot.
"It surprised me, it caught me off guard," Theodore said. "I couldn't do anything on their other four goals. They scored on rebounds or when one of their men was left open."
Theodore kept Montreal in the game with some good saves early in the third period, but the Rangers eventually poured it on. Martin Rucinsky made it 3-1 at 3:27 when he redirected defenseman Boris Mironov's cross-ice pass by Theodore from the left goalpost.
New York actually put away the game with its power play. With Marcel Hossa in the penalty box for cross-checking, Simon roofed a rebound of Moore's snap shot for his first goal of the season.
Just 15 seconds later, Perreault was penalized for slashing. LaCouture cashed in 25 seconds into the man advantage, swatting a mid-air deflection of Moore's centering feed from the right corner past Theodore.
"We were tentative at the start of the game," Moore said. "We knew what we had to do and we talked about it at the first intermission. We stayed positive. In the second and third periods, you definitely saw a different team out there."
Moore made an immediate impact after being recalled Friday from Hartford of the American Hockey League. The 23-year-old center from Ontario went to Harvard and was a third-round draft pick in 2000.
"I'm really excited about my first NHL game," said Moore, who took the place of the injured Pascal Rheaume. "I tried to keep it simple. I got some lucky bounces and I just put the puck on the net."
"Dominic reads the play so well," said Simon, who shares an agent with his new teammate. "He does all those little things right. He came in tonight and stepped up."
The only goal Dunham allowed came 6:14 into the second period, when Perreault's feed from behind the net caromed off the right skate of Rangers defenseman Vladimir Malakhov and snuck past the goalie.
"We dominated them in the first half of the game," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. "We should have scored more than one goal."
Theodore stopped just 22 of 27 shots for Habs, who have lost four of their last five games, totaling four goals in that stretch.
"I gave the guys Sunday off, but now I'm going to find out why we can't score goals," Julien said.
"This was one of our worst games this season. Somehow, we lost focus. And as a coach, it's for me to find out why. I didn't talk to the players, but I'll have a lot to say to them at our practice on Monday morning."
