VANCOUVER - Henrik Sedin had two goals and two assists Wednesday night as the Canucks sent the Canadiens to their second straight loss by the score of 7-1.

Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo, of Montreal, shut the door on his hometown team by stopping 27 shots as the defending Northwest Division champions ended an 0-3 start to the season.

Montreal was the perfect opponent to start a turnaround. The Canadiens lost their eighth straight game in Vancouver dating back to Nov. 30, 2000.

Goal barrage

Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond and Steve Bernier staked the Canucks to a 3-0 first-period lead, all with their first goals of the season.

Sedin scored twice in a span of three minutes 37 seconds in the second period while Mikael Samuelsson and Alex Burrows completed the attack in the third.

The Canucks converted three of five power-play chances and outshot Montreal 35-28.

Two up, two down

Andrei Kostitsyn scored with the man advantage for the Canadiens, whose record was evened at 2-2 after the Habs began the season with a pair of overtime wins.

Habs forward Mike Cammalleri said the Canadiens failed to match Vancouver's work ethic.

"If we lose a game because of mistakes, that's one thing but if we lose a game on effort like we did tonight, that's not acceptable for us,'' he said.

Price not right

It was not a memorable night for Canadiens goalie Price, who made his first start in his home province after not playing in the Canadiens' visit there last year.

Backup Jaroslav Halak played the final eight minutes after Price yielded Vancouver's seventh goal.

"I just battled as hard as I could and sometimes they find the back of the net,'' Price said. "It's pretty disappointing not to play (last season) but this is even more disappointing.''

Not sharp

Forward Brian Gionta said the Canadiens tested the Canucks when they got the first 14 shots of the second period and counted on the power play.

"But we lost too many battles, we made too many mistakes and we took too many penalties,'' Gionta said.

"At least two of the three (power-play goals) were real quick so we've got to figure out what we're doing wrong. They're finding the seams and they're scoring on them.

"We gave (Price) no support back there. He played well again, we just gave too many second, third, fourth opportunities in front of the net.''

NOTES

Montreal native Wally Buono, who recently set the CFL coaching record of 232 wins with the B.C. Lions, handled the ceremonial face-off ... Jacques Martin's fourth game behind the Montreal bench left him one game shy of 1,102 which would tie Billy Reay for ninth in all-time games coached ... Montreal ends its five-game season-opening road trip Saturday in Edmonton.