Montreal Canadiens' Dale Weise takes a shot on Columbus Blue Jackets' goalie Sergei Bobrovsky during second period NHL hockey action, in Montreal, on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
Captain Max Pacioretty scored late in the third period to give the Montreal Canadiens a 2-1 victory over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
Paul Byron scored for the Canadiens (19-4-3) in the first period. Mike Condon stopped 22 shots for his ninth win of the season.
Condon got the start in place of the injured Carey Price. On Monday, the Habs announced Price would miss at least six weeks with a lower-body injury.
Nick Foligno scored for the Blue Jackets (10-16-0) with Sergei Bobrovsky making 24 saves in defeat.
With Scott Hartnell in the box for tripping, Pacioretty fired home his team-leading 13th goal of the season, his fourth on the power play, at 17:51 of the final frame.
Montreal has now won six of its last seven versus Columbus, including a three-game season sweep last year.
Byron's third goal of the season gave Montreal the early lead at 2:51 of the first. A speedy Byron raced to the front of the net and tipped in a cross-ice saucer pass by Christian Thomas past Bobrovsky.
Foligno tied things up with a back-handed wrap-around goal at 17:23 of the first after Condon got caught too far out of his net.
Defenceman Alexei Emelin's night ended early after a late hit on Matt Calvert earned him a five-minute major and a game misconduct at 17:57 of the first period.
The puck was nowhere near Calvert when Emelin raised his shoulder and knocked the Columbus winger down in open ice. Calvert spent several minutes on his knees before retreating to the dressing room. He was back on the ice for the second period.
Emelin missed seven of Montreal's last eight games – five due to injury and the last two as a healthy scratch.
Columbus failed to score on the five-minute power play.
Things got even scrappier in the second when Foligno and Nathan Beaulieu dropped the gloves after the Blue Jackets captain knocked Tomas Fleischmann into the boards with a knee-on-knee hit.
Zach Fucale was called up from the AHL's St. John's IceCaps on Monday. Dustin Tokarksi was sent back down to the minors.