Cristobal Huet made 36 saves, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night.

Cristobal Huet made 36 saves, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night.

Alex Kovalev and Steve Begin scored in the first period for Montreal. Kovalev opened the scoring with his sixth goal on a two-man advantage. Koivu took Michael Ryder's pass from behind the net and immediately fed the puck to Kovalev, who settled the puck before putting a wrist shot over Backstrom.

Badly outplayed in the second as Minnesota scored twice to tie it, Montreal outshot the Wild 14-4 in the final period.

The Wild got goals from Stephane Veilleux and Dupuis to tie it at 2 while outshooting the Canadiens 21-7 in the middle period.

"We sucked in the second period," Montreal captain Saku Koivu said. "I don't know what happened, we were just absolutely terrible."

The Canadiens had more jump in the 3rd. 12:23 into the period, with all five Minnesota players around him and Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom facing backward, Radek Bonk backhanded his own rebound of a loose puck in the crease over the goal line for his fifth goal of the season.

Mike Komisarek scored into an empty net with 23.2 seconds remaining.

"The game was on in the third and I think we were able to play better than in the second and find a way to get the two points," Huet said.

Canadiens D Francis Bouillon made his season debut as Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau dressed seven defensemen. Janne Ninimaa, #8 on the depth chart, found himself in the press box yet again.