MONTREAL _ Carey Price helped the Canadiens beat the Devils.
The goalie personally took care of trying to beat up Kyle Palmieri.
Price smacking at a prone Palmieri with his blocker was just part of a bizarrely drawn-out first period as the Devils lost, 5-2, on Thursday night at Bell Centre, matching the most goals they've allowed this season and the most shots allowed at 49.
The Devils (12-8-6) had been hoping to carry the momentum _ in the form of sound defensive structure and a tight performance from goalie Cory Schneider _ from Tuesday's 3-2 win over the visiting Canucks.
Instead, Schneider again had way too much traffic consistently at his crease and the Devils allowed at least three goals for the 10th time in their last 11 games and Schneider has now allowed three or more goals in seven of his last eight starts.
"You don't want to look far ahead but we're going into a stretch where we're playing some good teams and if we can continue how we ended (Tuesday's) game, with the passion and the purpose in our game, it could bode well," said center Travis Zajac, who had his modest three-game point streak snapped.
The Devils face the Blues on Friday night at Prudential Center then play the Rangers for the first time this season on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
Schneider made 44 saves while Price stopped 19 shots for the Eastern Conference-leading Canadiens (18-6-3), who improved to 13-1-1 at home and are without centers David Desharnais and Alex Galchenyuk, both out six to eight weeks with knee injuries.
It marked the 10th straight game the Devils failed to outshoot their opponent and the third time in six games they've allowed more than 40 shots.
The Devils typically don't do wacky, but that's exactly what the first period was, with two reviews on each of the first two goals and then Price trying to beat Palmieri senseless with his blocker.
First, the Canadiens took a 1-0 lead at 12:49 on Nathan Beaulieu's shot from the left point that went in off Phillip Danault's helmet. The goal was reviewed to see if the Canadiens hit the puck with a high stick. Once that was ruled out, Devils coach John Hynes used his challenge, claiming goalie interference.
Both Danault and Artturi Lehkonen were near the crease and it appeared Lehkonen made contact with Schneider's arm, though Schneider had his arm extended outside the blue paint. So the goal stood.
So did Adam Henrique's goal at 16:19 as he made contact with Price. First, the referees checked to see if the puck had been kicked in. Then, Canadiens coach Michel Therrien challenged there was goalie interference. But it was ruled the puck was already on the way in before Henrique made contact.
Palmieri made contact with Price with 17.8 seconds left on a partial breakaway and partially pushed by Jeff Petry. But Price, who lost most of last season to a knee injury and was also knocked out of the 2014 Eastern Conference final when the Rangers' Chris Kreider bowled him over, is apparently sensitive to contact.
With Palmieri on the ice, Price repeatedly hit at him in a stabbing motion with his blocker. Palmieri was penalized for goalie interference and Price got four minutes for roughing.
Schneider also, briefly, thought he was interfered with as Lehkonen made it 3-1 at 9:09 of the second period off a scramble at the Devils' crease.
Schneider again was bumped, albeit this time behind his own crease as he went to play the puck, as the Canadiens made it 4-1 just 45 seconds into the third period. Max Pacioretty collided with Schneider, then skated into the slot and collected a loose puck off rookie Miles Wood's turnover and backhanded a shot past the goalie.
Taylor Hall's power-play goal at 3:07 closed the gap to 4-2. Both he and Henrique had a goal and an assist.
