Byron, Canadiens cruise past Penguins

PITTSBURGH -- Paul Byron scored twice and had an assist to help the Montreal Canadiens to their first win of the season, 5-1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.

WATCH: [All Canadiens vs. Penguins highlights]
Brendan Gallagher gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 11:08 of the first period before Byron made it 2-0 with his first goal at 15:56. His second made it 3-0 at 3:43 of the second period.
"That's the way we want to play. We want to play with pace," Byron said. "We want to move pucks up quick. We want to make sure that with our group, with the talent we have and the skating ability we have, that we can play that fast game. So far, it's working for us."
Carey Price made 21 saves for Montreal, which lost its season opener at the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime Wednesday.
"We were playing two pretty good teams on this road trip and we just wanted to play well and give a good effort," Price said. "I thought we did that overall and [we're] definitely happy with it. ... I think we're working pretty well as a unit. We're not showing a ton of panic out there when things are getting tough. We have guys that are all playing really well. There's no real secret to it."

Matt Murray made 24 saves for Pittsburgh after allowing six goals on 36 shots in a 7-6 overtime win against the Washington Capitals in its first game Thursday.
When asked how he would evaluate Murray's performance in the first two games, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Pittsburgh has to improve as a whole. Murray said he thought he took a step forward from the first game.
"From my personal point of view, you have to take the score out of it and honestly, I felt I was better today than I was last game," Murray said. "Trending in the right direction. I honestly felt pretty good today. There's some good chances and they made some good plays, but I just have to come up with a couple more saves."
After a shot from Tomas Tatar deflected off Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta, it slid to Gallagher for him to put a wrist shot behind Murray for the first goal. Gallagher has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past four games against Pittsburgh.
Byron went on a breakaway after skating around Maatta before going backhand to forehand around Murray for his first goal. His second came after Canadiens forward Max Domi dived and used one hand to slide the puck out from behind the net. Byron took the pass and shot over Murray.

It was Byron's first multigoal game since he had a hat trick against the Detroit Red Wings on Dec. 2.
Joel Armia made it 4-0 with a shorthanded goal at 14:05 of the second. Byron skated down the near wall before passing in front of Penguins forwards Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin to Armia, who tipped it over Murray.
Riley Sheahan cut it to 4-1 at 17:10 of the second. Kris Letang had the primary assist to pass Hall of Famer Paul Coffey for the most points by a defenseman in Pittsburgh history (441).
"It's not in the right game, I guess, but it's great," Letang said. "I've been here my whole career. I've played with great players. To get my name right next to Paul Coffey, it's pretty cool."
Charles Hudon made it 5-1 at 10:08 of the third.

They said it

"He's the coyote and the Road Runner. He's a guy that disappears pretty quickly. He showed that on that breakaway." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien on Byron
"I think we're a team right now that just wants to score instead of playing the game the right way. That means playing on both sides of the puck. It's in the details. It's making calculated decisions. It's making good line changes. Right now, we're not even close to where we need to be. That's what I learned from this game tonight." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Need to know

The Canadiens ended their five-game losing streak to the Penguins. They last defeated them on Oct. 18, 2016, when Al Montoya made 36 saves in a 4-0 win. Price had not started a Montreal win against Pittsburgh since Oct. 13, 2015. ... Murray has allowed 11 goals in his first two starts this season, the same number he allowed in his first two starts last season.

What's next

Canadiens: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, FS-W, NHL.TV)
Penguins: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; ATTSN-PT, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)