Carey Price punches Devils right winger Kyle Palmieri after Palmieri ran into him during the first period.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Carey Price lost his temper after being bumped twice in his crease but made 19 saves to win the game as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Thursday night.
Torrey Mitchell, with two, Phillip Danault, Artturi Lehkonen and Max Pacioretty scored for the Canadiens (18-6-3) in their return from a five-game road trip.
Adam Henrique scored a goal and set up one by Taylor Hall for New Jersey (12-8-6), which ended a two-game winning run. The Devils return home to face St. Louis on Friday night.
Montreal had a season-high 49 shots on Cory Schneider.
A wild first period saw three goals scored, four goal reviews and Price's meltdown.
With 18 seconds left in the first period, Kyle Palmieri slid into Price's knees and the Canadiens goaltender jumped on him and started pounding him with his blocker. Price was pulled away in the ensuing melee. Palmieri got a minor for goalie interference while Price got four minutes for roughing, although he may have been lucky to avoid a match penalty which could lead to a suspension.
Danault, who skipped the team skate Thursday morning due to an illness, opened the scoring at 12:49 on a disputed goal when he tipped Nathan Beaulieu's shot past Cory Schneider. It stood up to both the official review and Devils coach John Hynes' challenge that Schneider was interfered with by Danault just outside the crease.
Henrique tied it at 16:19 when the rebound of P.A. Parenteau's shot went off him into the net just before Henrique rammed into Price. Again, the goal was upheld after two reviews.
At 17:15, Mitchell elected to shoot on a two-on-one and saw the rebound go in off Devil Nick Lappin's skate. Andrew Shaw picked up his second assist of the game on the goal.
There was another small bump on Schneider before Lehkonen scored into an open side at 9:59 of the second, but at that point, both coaches had used up their challenges.
Pacioretty was alone in front to score on a backhand that trickled through Schneider's pads 45 seconds into the third after Alexander Radulov forced a turnover.
Henrique made a clever backhand pass for Hall to score into an open side on a power play at 3:07. Hall has scored in three straight games.
Mitchell reached in from behind the net to tuck in his second of the game at 15:49.
Montreal announced that defenceman Greg Pateryn, who took a shot off a foot on Tuesday in St. Louis, will be out about eight weeks with a fractured ankle. But rearguards Nathan Beaulieu (neck) and Zach Redmond (broken foot) returned from injuries. Off-season signing Redmond made his Canadiens debut.