MONTREAL – Cristobal Huet made 36 saves for his sixth shutout, and rookie Chris Higgins scored his third goal in two games to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 2-0 victory over the Is landers last night.

Radek Bonk scored into an empty net for Montreal, which began the day tied with New Jersey for seventh in the Eastern Conference. The Canadiens won their fourth in a row since a road loss to the Islanders on March 21. Montreal has 81 points, five more than ninth-place Atlanta.

Huet, who barely kept the puck from crossing the line on Miroslav Satan’s wraparound attempt with 9.8 seconds remaining, has recorded all of his shutouts since wresting the starting job away from Jose Theodore on February 2.

The Frenchman heard his name chanted by the sellout home crowd throughout the game. Huet stopped 14 shots in the second and 10 in the third after facing 12 in the opening period.

Higgins got his 17th of the season 7:40 in to give Montreal the 1-0 lead they protected until Bonk doubled it in the final second. Higgins, a Long Island native from Smithtown, N.Y., scored twice in Montreal’s 6-5 win in Pittsburgh on Sunday that followed two straight home victories over Toronto.

Rick DiPietro stopped 34 shots for the Islanders, who dressed seven rookies and remain 12th in the East with 71 points. The Islanders, who have 11 games remaining, have lost five straight on the road (0-4-1).

Canadiens captain Saku Koivu, who hasn’t scored in 23 games, assisted on Higgins’s goal. Koivu has six assists in four games, including three against the Penguins on Sunday.

Montreal defenseman Mike Komisarek, another Long Island native, was ejected at 14:47 of the first for fighting with Eric Godard.Komisarek got 27 minutes in penalties – a minor for instigating, a fighting major, a misconduct and a game misconduct – when he jumped on Godard and starting throwing a flurry of punches after Huet fell as the Islanders forward went by him.

Huet made a fine save with his left pad to stop Jason Blake’s shot in the first minute of the Islanders’ ensuing five-minute power-play at the end of the first.

Chants of “Huet! Huet!” continued in the second when the Canadiens goalie came up with a glove save on Alexei Yashin 1:04 into the period and stopped Wyatt Smith moments later when the Islanders center took advantage of a turnover deep in Montreal’s zone to drive in alone.

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DEVILS 3, SENATORS 2 Scott Gomez scored the only goal of a shootout last night to give the Devils a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

After the teams played to a draw through overtime, it took a controversial goal in the NHL’s new tiebreaker to snap the deadlock.

Gomez tried to deke Ray Emery on New Jersey’s third shootout try but was stopped as the goaltender slid back into the net. The goal counted after a video review.

Martin Brodeur stopped Daniel Alfredsson to seal the victory.

Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta failed to score for the Devils, and Antoine Vermette and Dany Heatley missed for Ottawa.

Heatley scored twice in regulation to set a career high with 42 goals, including the equalizer with 30.5 seconds left in regulation and Emery on the bench in favor of an extra skater.

John Madden gave the Devils a firstperiod lead with a short-handed goal but Heatley netted his 41st of the season during a third-period power play.

However, Gionta took advantage of a failed clearing attempt by Senators defenseman Andrej Meszaros and beat Emery to reach the 40-goal mark for the first time in his NHL career.

Brodeur stopped 36 shots in regulation for New Jersey (36-27-9) to earn his 436th victory and move within one of tying Jacques Plante for fourth place on the league’s career list.

It was just the second victory in six games and third in nine for the Devils, who moved into a tie with the idle Tampa Bay Lightning for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. The top eight teams will qualify for the playoffs.

Emery finished with 33 saves in regulation for Ottawa (48-16-7), which lost for the second game in a row after recording four straight victories. The Senators moved three points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes atop the East.

The Devils went 1-for-5 on the power play. Ottawa finished 1-for-6.