MONTREAL – P.K. Subban and Max Pacioretty each had a goal and an assist as the Montreal Canadiens extended their winning streak from the start of the season to nine games with a 5-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
The Canadiens are one short of an NHL record 10-0-0 start shared by the 1993-94 Leafs and 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres. Their next game is Tuesday in Vancouver.
Lars Eller, David Desharnais and Brendan Gallagher also scored for Montreal, whose wins have all been in regulation time. The Canadiens, with a big 48-hour stretch on offence, were coming off a 7-2 win in Buffalo on Friday night.
Leo Komarov, James van Riemsdyk and Morgan Reilly scored for Toronto (1-4-2), which is winless in its last three games.
The Canadiens were outworked for most of the game by the Leafs, who had a season-high 52 shots and were the first team this season to beat Carey Price more than twice in a game. Montreal had 27 shots on a shaky Jonathan Bernier.
Reilly and Dion Phaneuf hit goalposts, but it was the Canadiens who emerged with a 1-0 first period lead when Bernier was unable to hang onto Subban’s cannon blast from the top of the right circle on a power play at 10:53. It was Subban’s first goal of the season.
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