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Sports

Price makes 32 saves, Canadiens beat Leafs

Associated Press
Published | Updated

TORONTO – Carey Price made 32 saves, and Rafael Diaz and Lars Eller scored third-period goals in the Montreal Canadiens' 3-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Rene Bourque also scored for the Canadiens, coming off a 5-4 loss in Pittsburgh on Friday night.

Matthew Lombardi scored for the Maple Leafs.

The game was up for grabs heading to the third period but Toronto seemed to come undone while looking for more help from the referees. Diaz put Montreal ahead 2-1 moments after a lengthy delay to repair the glass and Toronto failed to tie the game on a subsequent power play.

Eller delivered the toughest blow by beating Jonas Gustavsson with a high shot at 11:25. The Toronto goalie was incensed the play wasn't blown down after teammate Jake Gardiner had been driven into him by Travis Moen.

From there, Price closed the door to help Montreal pick up just its second victory in the last seven games.

Despite the fact the Canadiens were playing their second game in 24 hours, there was a good pace to the first period. The long-time rivals each flashed speed and intensity in their third meeting of the season.

It took Montreal half a period to get its first shot, but it was a big test for Gustavsson. Eller had a short-handed breakaway from his own end but couldn't beat the goalie.

However, the Canadiens started to come on and Bourque opened the scoring at 18:26 with his first goal since being acquired in a trade from Calgary. He missed the net with a shot but had the puck carom back in front before beating Gustavsson.

There was barely even time for that to be announced at Air Canada Centre before Lombardi tied it. The speedy forward was sent in alone by linemate Tyler Bozak and put a nice deke on Price.

NOTES: Montreal is 5-9-2 since interim coach Randy Cunneyworth took over last month ... Gustavsson is 10-5-0 in his last 14 starts ... Keith Aulie, Jay Rosehill and Darryl Boyce sat out for Toronto ... The Canadiens scratched Petteri Nokelainen and Yannick Weber. ... Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman watched the game from the press box.