Montreal, QC (My Sportsbook) - Saku Koivu scored on the power play with 23 seconds remaining in the third period, as the Montreal Canadiens came back to edge the Los Angeles Kings, 4-3, at the Bell Centre.

Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Kostitsyn and Christopher Higgins also tallied for Montreal, which snapped a four-game losing skid and won for the first time since beating the Senators, 5-4, in a shootout at Ottawa on January 17.

Carey Price turned aside 29-of-32 shots for the Canadiens.

Dustin Brown and Jarret Stoll each had a goal and an assist, while Michael Handzus also tallied for the Kings, who had a three-game winning streak halted.

Jonathan Quick made 22 saves for Los Angeles.

With the Kings clinging to a 3-2 lead late in the third period, LA was bidding for an insurance goal, but Patrick O'Sullivan's wrist shot went off the goal post with 2:12 remaining and the Canadiens took advantage.

Ian Lapierre's long outlet pass was right on the stick of Higgins, who outworked Drew Doughty for the puck and beat Quick over the shoulder with a wrist shot to tie the contest with 1:53 left.

"It was a good game against a desperate hockey club, trying to get things going," Kings head coach Terry Murray said. "We responded for 59 minutes up to the Higgins goals, but that is a takedown. That's a penalty. That's a wrestling move. It was a non call."

However, the Habs weren't finished. Montreal was awarded a power play with 31 seconds remaining when Kyle Calder and Brown were each assessed minor penalties and Mike Komisarek received a two-minute roughing call for Montreal, making it a 5-on-4 advantage in the hosts' favor.

Off the faceoff, the puck came back to the right point to Markov, who fired a slap shot, and with Koivu chopping away in front, the puck squeezed through Quick's pads. As the netminder fell backwards, Koivu knocked it into the net, putting the Canadiens up 4-3 with 23 ticks left.

Los Angeles pulled the goaltender in favor of the extra attacker in the closing seconds but were unable to net the tying goal.

"It hasn't been the season I was looking for this year, but it was a goal which helped the team after four straight losses," Higgins said. "It was a huge win to lift the spirits in this room."

Handzus opened the scoring at 4:57 of the first period when he took a nice feed from Brown and beat Price from in close to give the Kings the early edge while skating on the power play.

Montreal, however, would come back to tie things when Plekanec shoveled a backhander home from the left side of the net at 11:41.

In the second stanza, Kostitsyn gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead when he fired a slap shot past Quick, but Los Angeles would answer with two goals to close out the stanza.

First, it was Brown lighting the lamp with 6 1/2 minutes left on a wrist shot from the middle slot, then Stoll struck again with 1:44 remaining in the frame to put LA ahead, 3-2, heading into the second intermission.

Kings defenseman Denis Gauthier was given a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct 3:50 into the second period when he ran Josh Gorges from behind, forcing the Canadiens blueliner to leave the contest. Gorges did return and logged 10:58 of ice time for the game but did not play in the third period.

Game Notes

Montreal will host Boston on Sunday afternoon, while the Kings play at Ottawa on Tuesday night...Los Angeles also hasn't defeated the Canadiens since a 2-1 home win on March 8, 2003 and is 1-11 with one tie in its last 13 visits to Montreal. The Habs have won the last four overall matchups in the series...Calder had two assists.