Manitoba's Kerry Burtnyk took care of business quickly in the morning draw at the Tim Hortons Brier Canadian men's curling championship in his home town of Winnipeg.

Burtnyk, backed up by third Dan Kammerlock, second Richard Daneault and lead Garth Smith, opened the game with a deuce, stole one in the second and three more in the third and sailed home with a 9-3 victory over Northern Ontario's Eric Harnden.

With the win, Manitoba improved to 5-1, moving into a tie for first place with a pair of 5-0 teams, Alberta's Kevin Martin and Ontario's Glenn Howard, who both had morning byes.

"It's another game where we came out on top and we get to put another point on the board on the right side," said Burtnyk. "That's a good thing. We played well enough to score some points, so that's good."

Northern Ontario dropped to 1-5 with the loss.

In other action, Nova Scotia's Brian Rafuse snapped a four-game losing streak, pulling out a 6-5 extra-end win over Newfoundland/Labrador's Brad Gushue. With the win, the Bluenosers improve to 2-4, while Newfoundland/Labrador falls to 3-3.

P.E.I.'s Peter Gallant, meanwhile, picked up his second straight win after four straight losses, opening the game with three in the first end and hanging on for a 7-6 victory over Chad Cowan of the Yukon/Northwest Territories. The loss dropped the Territories' record to 1-5.

And in the other game, Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons scored three in the 10th end, then stole the winning point in the 11th when Quebec skip Jean-Michel Menard was just wide with his last-rock angle tap attempt in a 9-8 victory.

Saskatchewan got to 5-1 with the win, while struggling Quebec dropped to 1-5.

New Brunswick's James Grattan (2-3) and B.C.'s Bob Ursel (2-3) also had byes in Draw 9.

Play at the the Tim Hortons Brier resumes Tuesday, with games scheduled for 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. (all times Eastern). Both draws will be televised by TSN.