MONTREAL (AP) - Shea Weber blasted in another power-play goal, Carey Price had another strong start and the Montreal Canadiens kept on winning.
Weber broke a tie in the third period and Price made 37 saves, lifting Montreal over the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Saturday night for its seventh straight victory.
“We struggled early in the game but we just seemed to come up with the timely one again,” said Weber, who has four goals in his first nine games as a Canadien, three of them by using his booming shot from the point on the power play.
“You want to score big goals and tonight we were fortunate to do that.”
Alex Galchenyuk also scored for Montreal, which is 8-0-1 and the only NHL club without a regulation loss this season. The Canadiens are one point short of their 9-0-0 start last season, which ended with a 5-1 loss in Vancouver. Their next game is at home Wednesday night against the Canucks
Price has won all five of his starts this season with a 1.40 goals-against average and .954 save percentage.
“He is so positionally sound and reads the game so well, he makes it look easy,” Weber said.
Nazem Kadri scored for the Leafs, who were coming off a 3-2 win Thursday over Florida.
Frederik Andersen had 29 stops for the Leafs. Montreal has won 11 straight over Toronto, which last beat the Canadiens on Jan. 18, 2014.
The Canadiens were on a 4-on-3 power play when Radulov slid a pass to Weber for a blast from about 35 feet out that went inside the right post.
“I didn’t like the four-on-three goal,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “That’s on the coaches. We shouldn’t have let Weber hammer away there. But we had good chances. Carey made some good saves. Our goaltender made some good saves. It was a good hockey game.”
The Canadiens had the better scoring chances early on and got the first goal 2:06 into the second frame.
Alexander Radulov collected the puck behind the Toronto defense and fed the trailing Galchenyuk for a high shot into an open side that left no chance for Andersen.
Price then had to be at his best as the Leafs poured on pressure. He stopped William Nylander in alone midway through the second and then made two sharp saves in traffic.
“Toronto played a good game,” said Montreal coach Michel Therrien. “They have a lot of speed.
“We played five games in eight nights and we didn’t have a lot of energy. But Price was outstanding. He stole the game.”
Radulov was off for hooking when Kadri redirected Nylander’s shot from the right point along the ice past Price 4:18 into the third period.
NOTES: Montreal coach Michel Therrien juggled his lines, moving Radulov onto the top unit with Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher. Radulov had two assists.
UP NEXT
Maple Leafs: At the New York Islanders on Sunday night to complete a back-to-back.
Canadiens: Host Vancouver on Wednesday night.
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