Canadiens ease past Devils

MONTREAL -- Torrey Mitchell scored twice and Phillip Danault had a goal and an assist in the Montreal Canadiens' 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Bell Centre on Thursday.
Carey Price made 19 saves, and Artturi Lehkonen and Max Pacioretty scored for Montreal (18-6-3), which improved to 13-1-1 at home.
"I thought that was one of our best performances of the year," Price said. "I thought we used our legs well. We looked like a fast team out there. We were cycling the puck, making it hard to skate with us, and that's our strength."
Adam Henrique and Taylor Hall scored for New Jersey (12-8-6), which had won consecutive games. Cory Schneider made 44 saves.

"Well, we've got a game Friday] so we have to talk about this one, and then we've got to move on," Devils coach John Hynes said. "[Friday] is a new day and then we've got to make sure we're ready to be a better team."
Mitchell put Montreal ahead 2-1 at 17:15 of the first period. He scored his second of the game at 15:49 of the third period to make it 5-2.
**[WATCH: All Devils vs. Canadiens highlights**
Each of the first two goals of the game were first reviewed by the officials and subsequently challenged by the respective coaches.
Danault scored his sixth goal at 12:49 of the first period. Hynes challenged for goalie interference against Schneider and the goal was upheld.
Henrique tied it at 1-1 with his sixth goal at 16:19 and a review determined that the puck went into the net off his skate in a legal fashion.
Canadiens coach Michel Therrien also challenged and it was determined that Price had not been interfered with prior to the puck crossing the goal line.
Price got a double minor for punching Devils forward Kyle Palmieri with his blocker with 18 seconds left in the first.
"I don't know, I got run over on the first goal so I figured I wasn't going to take another one," Price said. "I got fired up, I guess."
Palmieri was called for goaltender interference.
"Any time you're on the ice, defenseless and you're taking a blocker to the back of the head, it's not a great situation to be in," Palmieri said.
Lehkonen put the Canadiens up 3-1 with his fourth goal at 9:59 of the second. Pacioretty's eighth goal 45 seconds into third made it 4-1.
Hall cut Montreal's lead to 4-2 with his eighth goal on a power play at 3:07.

Goal of the game

Pacioretty took advantage of a turnover in the Devils zone and took a backhand shot past Schneider to give Montreal its first of two three-goal leads.

Save of the game

Price was squared to make the save on a shot by Miles Wood from the edge of the crease at 7:16 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Henrique made a backhand pass to set up Hall's power-play goal, which drew the Devils to within 4-2 in the third period.

Unsung performance of the game

Shaw got his second assist of the game. He worked the puck free in the right corner and set up Lehkonen's goal, which gave the Canadiens a 3-1 lead.

They said it

"Obviously he was pretty upset and frustrated. There's a lot riding on that knee, for both him and their team, so I can understand why, after what he went through last year, he'd be pretty upset. But, you know, I think Kyle got pushed a little bit by his own guy there. I think he was driving the net and the other guy gave him a shove, and I'm not a fan of goalies throwing blocker punches, especially to a guy on the ice. I think it's pretty dangerous if you catch a guy in the eye or the mouth with the tip of your blocker. It's a weapon and it can cause some damage, so he got three to four haymakers in there while Kyle's lying on the ice prone. So I'm not a big fan of that, but it's the heat of the moment and stuff happens, and who knows, if that's a player doing that, maybe he gets a misconduct." -- Devils goalie Cory Schneider about Price punching Palmieri
"It's just one game, but we talked about it before the game that we need guys stepping up. I think we're more than just two players. They're obviously huge offensive parts of our team, but we showed it tonight. We had four lines and all four lines played well. It's just one game, but we've got to build off that." -- Canadiens center Torrey Mitchell

Need to know

Goalie Keith Kinkaid will start for New Jersey against the St. Louis Blues at home on Friday. ... The Canadiens are 15-2-2 when they score the first goal. They have scored first in 19 of 28 games. … Montreal was missing three players who were injured during their 2-2-1 road trip. Centers Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais each are out 6-8 weeks because of a knee injury. Defenseman Greg Pateryn is expected to miss eight weeks after breaking his foot Tuesday.

What's next

Devils: Host the St. Louis Blues on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-MW, NHL.TV)
Canadiens:Host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN360, CITY, TVA Sports, ALT, NHL.TV)