Peverley has 3 points, Thrashers beat Canadiens

Colby Armstrong scored 13:14 into the third period and the Atlanta Thrashers earned their first regulation win in Montreal in over five years, 5-4 over the Canadiens on Tuesday night.

Armstrong scored his second of the season to restore Atlanta's one-goal lead just 24 seconds after Montreal drew even for the second time in the third.

Rich Peverley had a goal and two assists, including his third point of the game with a cross-crease setup pass on Pavel Kubina's power-play goal that gave the Thrashers a 4-3 edge 4:10 into the third period.

Tomas Plekanec drew Montreal even at 4 with his fourth goal at 12:40.

Brian Gionta scored his second goal of the game earlier in the third to draw the Canadiens even at 3 after Mike Cammalleri launched Montreal's comeback bid when he scored his seventh goal with 35.7 seconds left in the second.

Ondrej Pavelec made 34 saves and Peverley increased his team scoring lead to 16 points. Kubina, Bryan Little and Mark Popovic each scored their first goal of the season for Atlanta, which had two shootout wins in its previous nine games in Montreal.

The Thrashers (6-4-1), who played their third game without injured captain Ilya Kovalchuk, won their second in a row following a four-game losing streak.

Kovalchuk, who leads Atlanta with nine goals in eight games, was lost for three to five weeks after he broke his foot in a 4-3 loss to San Jose on Thursday.

Carey Price stopped 25 shots for Montreal (7-8-0), which ended a five-game winning streak at home. The Canadiens had gone 7-0-2 against the Thrashers at the Bell Centre since Atlanta's 4-1 win on Feb. 17, 2004.

Gionta, who scored his fifth goal early in the second, intercepted Christoph Schubert's pass and beat Pavelec for an unassisted goal, his sixth of the season.

Peverley had a hand in both of Atlanta's goals late in the first period.

Little got credit for his first goal of the season 17:34 in when Peverley's shot deflected off his stick past Price.

Peverley made it 2-0 when he scored his seventh goal with 12.8 seconds left in the first.

Popovic scored 7:30 into the second to restore Atlanta's two-goal lead at 3-1 after Gionta scored 2:51 into the middle period.

Montreal drew within one again late in the second. Cammalleri jumped on the puck after Peverley fanned on a pass in his own zone and drove in alone to slip a shot under Pavelec's left pad with 35.7 seconds left in the period.

NOTES: Peverley favored his left leg when he left the game briefly after an awkward collision with Montreal defenseman Jaroslav Spacek near the boards 38 seconds into the second. ... Canadiens D Mathieu Carle made his NHL debut after he was recalled from Hamilton of the AHL earlier in the day. Carle was chosen 53rd overall by Montreal in the second round of the 2006 draft.