Price, Shaw keep Canadiens perfect at home
MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens pulled within one win of the NHL record for consecutive home wins to start a season with a 5-0 victory against the Detroit Red Wings at Bell Centre on Saturday.
The win was their 10th straight on home ice to start the season. The 1963-64 Chicago Blackhawks emerged victorious in 11 consecutive contests on home ice to start the season.
Montreal can tie the Chicago's record when it hosts the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
The Canadiens (13-1-1) used a familiar formula on Saturday en route to setting a franchise record for consecutive wins on home ice from the start of a season, breaking the club record set in 1953.
They were backed by a 25-save shutout by goaltender Carey Price, his second of the season and 38th career.
Andrew Shaw collected a goal and two assists. Phillip Danault and Paul Byron, who continued the excellent starts to their seasons, joined captain Max Pacioretty and defenseman Shea Weber with a goal apiece.
The Canadiens' 10 wins tied the 1925-26 Ottawa Senators for the NHL's second-longest winning streak at home from the start of a season.
Price extended his franchise-record winning streak from the start of a season to 10 games. The former record was eight by Charlie Hodge in 1960-61. He also extended his personal winning streak to 13 games.
The Canadiens' 13 wins are the most in team history through their first 15 games.
Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard, starting his fourth game in a row, faced 25 shots and was replaced by Petr Mrazek to start the third period.
The Red Wings (8-7-1) had their two-game winning streak ended.
Second period goals by Shaw and Pacioretty extended the Canadiens' lead to 5-0.
Shaw scored his second goal of the season after a shot by Alex Galchenyuk went in off his foot on the power play at 15:13. Shaw added his second assist of the night at 16:49 when Pacioretty made it 5-0 with his third of the season.
Weber capped a dominating first period for the Canadiens when his powerful one-timer from the left point during a 5-on-3 power play put the Canadiens ahead 3-0 with one minute left in the period.
Weber's goal -- his sixth, which at that moment tied him for the team lead with Galchenyuk -- came after a faceoff win by Galchenyuk and a cross-ice setup from Alexander Radulov.
Howard had no chance.
Danault continued the excellent start to his season with his fifth goal at 4:17 of the first period. Playing on a line with Shaw and Pacioretty, Danault was a threat on just all of his seven shifts in the first period. He poked in a loose puck in the crease to put the Canadiens ahead.
Byron scored his fifth at 7:59 when he kicked the puck away from Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall at the Montreal blue line and broke away. He skated in and beat Howard with a high shot to the stick side.
NOTES: Canadiens C Brian Flynn was scratched because of an upper-body injury. His place in the lineup was taken by C David Desharnais, who was a healthy scratch for the Canadiens' 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. Montreal D Greg Pateryn was scratched for a second straight game. ... Canadiens LW Artturi Lehkonen missed his third game with an upper-body injury. ... Detroit RW Anthony Mantha played his first game of the season in place of C Andreas Athanasiou (sprained knee). Mantha, the Wings' first-round pick (20th overall) in the 2013 NHL Draft, played on a line with LW Tomas Tatar and C Frans Neilson. ... The Red Wings scratched LW Drew Miller, D Ryan Sproul and D Xavier Ouellet. Injured are RW Tomas Jurco (back), RW Johan Franzen (concussion-like symptoms), C Joe Vitale (concussion) and LW Thomas Vanek (hip). ... Canadiens D Andrei Markov played his 100th consecutive game.