Price is right for Habs in win over Maple Leafs

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Carey Price turned aside all 27 shots he faced for his sixth shutout of the season as the Montreal Canadiens blanked the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0 in front of a boisterous home crowd on Saturday.

The win at the Bell Center snapped a three-game losing streak for Montreal and lifted the Canadiens to within one point of the Northeast Division-leading Boston Bruins.

"It's fun, but winning's more important," Price told reporters of the shutout. "That's all it is to me, it's just another stat. I've said it before, the only real stat that's important to me is the 'W' column."

Benoit Pouliot opened the scoring midway through the second period, converting a pass from Desharnais, and Brian Gionta scored on an almost identical play 1:40 later to give Montreal a 2-0 lead.

"I don't remember how I got there but I remember Davey (Desharnais) giving me the puck," Pouliot said. "For some reason I was all alone. When it gets teed up like that, you can't miss."

Toronto had been playing well recently collecting nine points in their past six games but were easily outplayed and outshot 39-27 by Montreal.

"You have to make sure you compete in every aspect of the game, and I don't think we were willing to do that for the whole 60 minutes," Maple Leafs goalie Jean-Sebatien Giguere said.

"There's no good reason, we don't have any excuse. We should be well-rested. They just outplayed and outcompeted us."

The only downside to the victory for the Canadiens was winger Max Pacioretty leaving the game after being squeezed against the boards by Toronto defenseman Luke Schenn with an injury to his wrist or arm.

(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario; (Editing by John O'Brien)