Price Makes 24 Saves As Canadiens Beats Kings, 4-1

MONTREAL (AP) — Carey Price made 24 saves as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 on Thursday night to improve to 9-0-0 at home, tying a franchise record for most consecutive home wins to start a season since 1953.

Paul Byron, Daniel Carr, Phillip Danault and Alex Galchenyuk, into the empty net, scored for Montreal (12-1-1), which has won three straight.

Tyler Toffoli scored the lone goal for the Kings (7-7-0) while Peter Budaj made 19 saves.

Toffoli ended Price's shutout bid at 11:57 of the third period, on the power play, just minutes after the Canadiens goalie robbed Anze Kopitar while sprawled on the ice.

Price is 5-1-0 in his last six career starts against the Kings. He is 19-2-0 in his last 21 starts dating to last season.

Despite owning the league's best record, the Canadiens had been far from dominant in their previous five games. That led coach Michel Therrien to shake up his lines.

Therrien benched forward David Desharnais, who has two goals and two assists in 13 games this season. He was without a point in his last nine games. Danault took Desharnais' spot on the third line, which meant Carr made his season debut on the fourth line.

The moves paid off, with Carr scoring just 13:53 into the first period. A few minutes after Byron's opening goal, the 25-year-old Carr beat Budaj by deflecting Andrei Markov's shot from the point.

Montreal made it 3-0 midway through the second period.

Making his first start at center, Danault cashed in Jeff Petry's rebound from a tight angle at 9:37 for his fourth goal of the season. Budaj, out of position after the initial save on Petry, was impeded by teammate Nick Shore and couldn't get back to his crease.

Budaj, looking for his third consecutive shutout, hadn't conceded a goal in 140:57 when Byron found the back of the net in the first period.

Byron pounced on a loose puck after incredible work by Alexander Radulov at the side of the net. Radulov twisted and turned his way past defenseman Jake Muzzin, drove hard to the net and shot on Budaj.

Radulov has seven points in his last six games.

Budaj was making his first start against his former club since being traded by Montreal to Winnipeg in 2014.

Forward Sven Andrighetto and defenseman Joel Hanley also made their season debuts.

NOTES: Montreal's Greg Pateryn was a healthy scratch. . Former Montreal and Los Angeles G Rogatien Vachon was honored in a pre-game ceremony. On Monday the league announced Vachon would be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

UP NEXT:

Kings: Visit the Ottawa Senators on Friday.

Canadiens: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.