Carey Price, Canadiens defeat Kings

MONTREAL -- Carey Price made 23 saves, Alex Galchenyuk scored for a third straight game, and the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 at Bell Centre on Thursday.
Paul Byron, Daniel Carr and Phillip Danault scored for the Canadiens (12-1-1).
With nine straight wins at home to begin the season, the Canadiens matched a 63-year-old team record.

WATCH: All Kings vs. Canadiens highlights
Montreal will look to set the record on Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings, the team that ended the Canadiens streak in the 1953-54 season.
"It hasn't been perfect," said captain Max Pacioretty, who had two assists. "We're trending upwards after tonight. We have gotten bounces, we've relied on Carey [Price] too much at times, we've had to kill certain penalties that we wish we didn't have to kill, but all things considered we have the right mindset in this room, and when we win a game, no matter what, you kind of look back on that game and see there's not a turning point, but there's a reason for the guys to stand up and feel good about themselves because we play for one another."
Price set a Canadiens record with his ninth win in as many starts this season. The former record of eight was set by Charlie Hodge in the 1960-61 season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Price's 12-game winning streak is the longest by an NHL goalie since Jonas Hiller won 14 consecutive games for the Anaheim Ducks from Dec. 6, 2013 to Jan. 12, 2014.
Montreal led 3-0 when Tyler Toffoli's power-play goal ended Price's shutout bid at 11:57 of the third period.

Peter Budaj made 19 saves in his 11th straight start for Los Angeles (7-7-0), which had won three straight, including 7-0 at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
"We scored seven goals last game, and as I said after the game, one was enough, we should have saved five," coach Darry Sutter said.
Budaj, who was Price's backup for two seasons, had shutouts in his previous two games.
Byron ended Budaj's shutout streak at 158:32 when he scored his fourth goal at 7:48 of the first period.
Carr increased the Canadiens lead with his first goal of the season at 13:53.
Danault, who moved from left wing to start at center for the first time this season, scored his fourth goal at 9:37 of the second period to make it 3-0.
Galchenyuk scored his sixth goal into an empty net with 1:49 remaining.

Goal of the game

Carr scored directly off a faceoff to give Montreal a 2-0 lead at 13:53 of the first period. Canadiens center Torrey Mitchell drew the puck back to defenseman Andrei Markov, whose shot from the right point was deflected by Carr.

Save of the game

Price had fallen backwards after getting bumped in the crease but managed to get his glove hand up and deflect a hard shot by Anze Kopitar out of play on a Kings power play at 10:08 of the third period. "Well, I mean, I don't know how he did it, but he did it," said Kopitar, who hit the post in the second period. "I mean, the first one, I beat him but managed to hit the post. And then the second one, you know, was obviously a highlight reel save, so we'll probably see that one for a while on TV."

Highlight of the game

On his way to setting up Byron's goal, Alexander Radulov doggedly worked with the puck in the left corner before finding a route to the net past the checking of Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin.

Unsung moment of the game

Toffoli's goal was the Kings' first on the power play in seven games, ending a 0-for-23 drought.

They said it

"I think they got us from behind quite a bit, turned the pucks over. Some of our faster players weren't on their game tonight. That's a really good hockey club. It's a four lines deep team. Pretty obvious why they're now 9-0 at home. Combined score going into tonight's game was 28-11, which meant every game was 4-1, that's what tonight's score was, too. So we're probably saying the same thing that eight other teams said, unless they beat somebody twice already." -- Kings coach Darryl Sutter about what Montreal did to limit their attack
"I just threw a hand up and got lucky. It was just one of those things where you get lucky every once in a while." -- Canadiens goalie Carey Price about his third-period save on Anze Kopitar

Need to know

The Kings outhit Montreal 58-21. ... The 12 wins by the Canadiens are the most through their first 14 games in their 99-year NHL history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

What's next

Kings: At the Ottawa Senators on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN5, RDS, FS-W, NHL.TV)
Canadiens: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, FS-D, NHL.TV)