Stollery was called for boarding defenseman Nathan Beaulieu in the Devils end 28 seconds into the third period. Montreal had an uninterrupted three-minute power play after a roughing minor to Torrey Mitchell expired. Weber scored at 3:01 and Pacioretty scored at 4:23.
"It happened quick," Stollery said of his penalty. "The guy is coming in and I am going in to finish the play and he turns up. I probably would like to let up a little bit more if it happened again. It's one of those things that happens quick."
The Canadiens smothered the Devils offense, refusing to allow much space through the neutral zone. Montreal limited New Jersey to three shots on goal until 6:39 remained in the second period. The 17 shots against the Canadiens were the fewest since 13 in a 5-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 20.
"We've been struggling over the past couple weeks with our defensive game," Weber said. "We made a point to really lock things up but try not to take away from our offense."
It was the second time in the past nine games the Canadiens held their opponent to fewer than two goals.
"I'll take this any night; your team is playing fantastic in front of you and halfway through the game it's 1-1, so all I'm really focused on is making that next save," Montoya said. "Maybe it's experience and the games I've played, but these guys did a phenomenal job. I just wanted to make that next save."
Santini scored through a screen to give the Devils a 1-0 lead 4:00 into the first period. Galchenyuk, who was moved from the top line to the third line, scored a power-play goal 1:14 later for a 1-1 tie.
