Canadiens 4, Penguins 1
Max Pacioretty and defenseman Tom Gilbert each scored one goal and set up another as visiting Montreal moved into first place in the Eastern Conference with its season high-tying sixth consecutive victory.
David Desharnais and blue-liner Alexei Emelin also tallied to help the Canadiens win for the ninth time in 10 contests and complete a perfect five-game road trip. Carey Price turned aside 30 shots to win his fifth start in a row while allowing two goals or fewer for the nine straight outing.
David Perron - acquired in a trade with Edmonton on Friday - scored in his debut for Pittsburgh, which dropped a point behind Montreal in the East with its fifth loss in seven games (2-4-1). Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves but allowed at least three goals for the fifth time in six starts.
Pacioretty gave the Canadiens the early lead 2 1/2 minutes into the game, knocking home a loose puck from the bottom of the right faceoff circle. Desharnais doubled the lead four minutes later, but Perron answered midway through the period with a one-timer from the slot off a feed by captain Sidney Crosby.
Montreal struck for an early goal again in the middle session as Pacioretty sent a pass to Gilbert, who was all alone in front after coming out of the penalty box and beat Fleury to the stick side. Emelin put it out of reach with his first tally of the season, a blast that beat Fleury to the glove side with 5:52 left in the third.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Price earned his first victory when starting both ends of a back-to-back set (1-3-0) over the past two seasons and moved within seven wins of tying G Bill Durnan (208) for fourth place on the franchise list. ... Perron ended a 10-game goalless drought, Gilbert tallied for the first time in 27 contests and Emelin notched his first in 45 games. ... Fleury suffered only his second regulation defeat in his last 11 starts versus Montreal (7-2-2).