MONTREAL – Manny Malhotra scored his first goal as a Canadien and Carey Price made 30 saves for his sixth shutout as Montreal downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0 on Saturday night.
David Desharnais, with two, and Tomas Plekanec also scored for Montreal (41-16-5), which has won four games in a row and 14 of its last 19.
The Leafs (25-32-5) ended a two-game winning run.
Price, the NHL leader in save percentage and goals-against average, picked up his 31st career shutout. Toronto outshot the Canadiens 30-23.
Malhotra scored his in his 53rd game for Montreal at 5:00 of the first when he took a clever drop pass from Dale Weise and beat Jonathan Bernier from close range.
Bernier let in a soft one at 12:57 when, with the Canadiens up a skater on a delayed penalty call, Plekanec skated in and scored on a wrist shot to the short side.
Desharnais scored his 10th goal of the season and his 200th career point as he slid the puck in from a scramble in the crease in which Bernier looked to be bumped by Brendan Gallagher.
Coach Peter Horachek pulled Bernier for an extra attacker with nearly five minutes left to play but Desharnais flipped his second of the night into the empty net at 17:28 of the third.
Toronto native Devante Smith-Pelly, acquired this week from Anaheim, played his first home game as a Canadien.
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