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Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn recorded his first career hat trick on Saturday night, while Carey Price stopped 31 shots, including 16 in the third period to lead the Canadien's to a 3-2 victory in Pittsburgh. With the win, Montreal moves ahead of the Penguins in the Eastern Conference standings, while the Penguins failed to win consecutive games yet again -- they haven't won two in a row since November 13-15. Just sayin'.

Kostitsyn scored a pair of goals in the first period before completing the hat trick early in the third period with a quick slap shot that beat Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury through the five-hole.

Following Kostitsyn's goal, Price turned into a brick wall, as the Penguins had a trio of power plays in the final period, and peppered the Montreal netminder. Of course, if you're Pittsburgh, you have to be a tad frustrated you failed to convert on five power plays, after going 0-for-5 one night ago in New Jersey. How a power play that features Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Petr Sykora and Ryan Whitney, among others, can consistently have so many 0-for-5 and 0-for-6 nights seems to defy all logic. Yet, here we are.

Crosby and Pascal Dupuis each finished with a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh.

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There was a time when the Red Wings-Avalanche rivalry was the fiercest in the sport. We're talking bench clearing brawls, Sports Illustrated covers and a whole lot of bad blood. Oh, and they occasionally played some hockey too.

But thanks to time and tide -- though mostly due to the fact that Colorado hasn't demonstrated the same sort of sustained excellence we've seen out of Detroit -- what was once a turgid cauldron of hate is now just some chicken noodle soup on a long simmer.

But that might change momentarily. At the trade deadline the Avalanche brought back two old faces -- Adam Foote and Peter Forsberg -- who remember quite well what this rivalry used to be all about. Toss in Jose Theodore, a once-great goalie who has suddenly revived his game, and we might be in for a few surprises.