MONTREAL – Zach Parise, David Clarkson and Matt Taormina scored and Martin Brodeur made 21 saves to help the New Jersey Devils beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 on Sunday night.
The Devils improved to 34-20-4 with their third straight victory and jumped past division rivals Pittsburgh and Philadelphia into fourth in the Eastern Conference.
Max Pacioretty scored for Montreal. The Canadiens have lost eight straight against New Jersey at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens last beat the Devils in Montreal on March 11, 2008.
Carey Price made 22 saves for Montreal.
After a 4-3 shootout victory in Buffalo on Friday night, the Canadiens' slim hopes for a playoff berth stalled again. A win would have moved Montreal within four points of the eighth and final spot in the East.
Price gave the Canadiens a chance in the opening 20 minutes, stopping 12 shots.
The Devils opened the scoring when Parise deflected Ilya Kovalchuk's shot off a faceoff past Price with 1:57 left in the first. New Jersey made it 2-0 with 18 seconds left in the second, with Clarkson scoring off a deflection for his 22nd goal of the season.
Pacioretty ended Brodeur's shutout bid at 1:46 of the third when he picked up a loose puck in a busy crease and wristed it past the goalie. The 23-year-old winger has 13 goals and five assists in his last 17 games.
Taormina re-established New Jersey's two-goal lead at 8:27 of the third with his first of the season. After the Canadiens failed to clear the zone, Devils defenseman Mark Fayne took a shot from the blue line that went in off Taormina.
NOTES: The Devils scratched defenseman Kurtis Foster and wingers Stephane Veilleux and Cam Janssen. ... For the first time since January 20, 2001, the Canadiens didn't take a penalty.
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