Habs top Devils for milestone home win
MONTREAL -- Torrey Mitchell scored twice to help the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
Phillip Danault, Artturi Lehkonen and Max Pacioretty also scored for Montreal (18-6-3), which earned its 2,000th home win in franchise history.
Adam Henrique and Taylor Hall scored for the Devils, who fell for the first time in regulation in December.
Carey Price stopped 19 shots for the Canadiens while Cory Schneider made 44 saves for New Jersey (12-8-6).
The opening 20 minutes nearly took three times as long to complete, thanks to countless lengthy reviews and a late melee.
It began with the opening goal from Danault at 12:49. Nathan Beaulieu, who returned after a six-game absence due to injury, fired a shot from the top of the left circle. With Danault and Lehkonen camped out in front of Schneider, the shot hit Danault and fluttered past the Devils netminder.
After officials reviewed the play and determined the puck entered the net in a legal fashion, Devils coach John Hynes challenged for goaltender interference, but officials upheld the call on the ice.
Henrique's tally at 16:19 would undergo the same process. Price saved Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau's shot from the bottom of the right circle but Henrique cleaned up the loose puck in front.
Officials reviewed the play and confirmed that the puck deflected in off his skate and was not kicked in. The Canadiens immediately challenged for goaltender interference, as Henrique knocked Price over but it was deemed the puck was already on its way in when he was taken down.
Mitchell put Montreal back in front less than a minute later when his shot from the bottom of the left circle snuck in short side when it hit Devils winger Nick Lappin's skate after Schneider made the initial save.
Lehkonen made it 3-1 at 9:59 of the second period. Schneider denied Danault's attempts as the Canadiens center tried to whack at the puck in front but Lehkonen was there to poke home the rebound.
It marked the seventh time in his last eight games that the Devils goaltender has given up at least three goals.
Pacioretty's third goal in the past three games extended the lead just 45 seconds into the third period. New Jersey's clearing attempt hit Vernon Fiddler's skate and found its way to Pacioretty, whose backhander from just inside the left circle trickled past Schneider.
The Devils cut into the lead on the power play at 3:07 when Henrique sent a perfect blind backhand pass to Hall alone at the bottom of the circle.
Mitchell notched his second of the night when snuck the puck by Schneider on a wraparound.
NOTES: Montreal announced just before the game that D Greg Pateryn would miss eight weeks with a fractured ankle suffered on Tuesday in St. Louis. ... Canadiens D Zach Redmond made his season debut after recovering from a broken foot suffered in training camp while D Nathan Beaulieu returned after missing six games with an upper-body injury after taking a puck to the neck on Nov. 22. Montreal LW Phillip Danault dressed after missing the morning skate due to illness... The Devils scratched D Jon Merrill, C Jacob Josefson and C Pavel Zacha (facial injury). ... The game was the lone Bell Centre meeting between the two teams this season.