Malhotra notches first with Habs
Manny Malhotra scored his first goal as a Canadien and Carey Price made 30 saves for his sixth shutout as Montreal downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0 Saturday night.
David Desharnais, with two, and Tomas Plekanec also scored for Montreal (41-16-5), which has won four games in a row and 14 of its last 19.
The Leafs (25-32-5) had a twogame winning run come to an end.
Price, the NHL leader in save percentage and goals-against average, picked up his 31st career shutout.
Toronto outshot the Canadiens 30-23. Malhotra, a former Canuck, scored his in his 53rd game for Montreal five minutes into the game when he took a drop pass from Dale Weise and beat Jonathan Bernier from close range.
Bernier let in a soft one at 12:57 when, with the Canadiens up a skater on a delayed penalty call, Plekanec skated in and scored on a wrist shot to the short side.
Desharnais scored his 10th goal of the season and his 200th career point as he slid the puck in from a scramble in the crease during which Bernier looked to be bumped by Brendan Gallagher.
Coach Peter Horachek pulled Bernier for an extra attacker with nearly five minutes left to play, but Desharnais flipped his second of the night into the empty net at 17:28 of the third.
Toronto native Devante Smith-Pelly, acquired this week from Anaheim, played his first home game as a Canadien.
NOTES: P.A. Parenteau was cleared to return from a concussion, but coach Michel Therrien made him a healthy scratch along with defenceman Mike Weaver. … Defenceman Sergei Gonchar returned after missing six games with an upperbody injury suffered Feb. 14 against Toronto. … The Leafs scratched Trevor Smith.