Montreal Canadiens undefeated in homestand as they beat Rangers 3-1

MONTREAL -- Lars Eller broke a 1-1 deadlock midway through the second period and Max Pacioretty scored in the third to give the Montreal Canadiens a 3-1 victory over the visiting New York Rangers on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

Tomas Plekanec also found the back of the net for Montreal (7-1-0), while Carey Price made a whopping 34 saves in his first meeting with New York since Chris Kreider knocked him out in the first game of last year's Eastern Conference final.

Carl Hagelin scored the lone goal for New York (4-4-0). Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27-of-30 shots in defeat.

The Conference-leading Habs are now 8-2-0 in their last 10 regular season games against the Rangers. Their victory also ended New York's three-game winning streak.

Prior to puck drop, fans at the Bell Centre observed a moment of silence to honour Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, two Canadian soldiers who were killed in separate attacks this week in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.

The Canadiens were part of a ceremony co-ordinated between Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Bell Centre in Montreal and Air Canada Centre in Toronto, fans in all three arenas observed a lengthy moment of silence. (See below for video.)

In Ottawa, Lyndon Slewidge performed the "Star-Spangled Banner" before the emotional rendition of "O Canada" got underway.

Security was also increased at the Bell Centre in light of the attacks, and fans were warned they would not be permitted to re-enter the arena if they left, and the no-backpacks rule was more strictly enforced.

Montreal, still undefeated at home so far this year (4-0), secured two points when Eller got his stick on a loose puck in front of the net and slotted it home between Lundqvist's pads.

After possibly their best start to a game this season, Michel Therrien's men scored first for just the second time this year. With Manny Malhotra in the box for holding, the Canadiens opened the scoring on a short-handed, two-man breakaway.

Plekanec capitalized on a New York mistake at the blue-line, poking the puck past an overly aggressive Ryan McDonagh along the boards. With all five Rangers in the offensive zone and acres of space in front of them, Plekanec and Pacioretty fooled Lundqvist with four quick passes before the Czech fired home his team-leading fifth of the season.

With the goal, Plekanec tied Habs legend Yvon Lambert for 27th on Montreal's all-time scoring list.

Hagelin tied the game for the Rangers minutes later, jumping on a rebound to the left of Price after a Dan Girardi shot from the point was kicked away by the Canadiens netminder.

After Eller put the Canadiens in front at 11:46 of the second, Pacioretty added a third for Montreal at 6:35 of the final period when Dale Weise, from behind the net, found the left-winger all alone in the slot. The assist was Weise's second of the game -- his first two points of the season.

In just his sixth NHL game, Montreal-born rookie Anthony Duclair finished with one assist and three shots. The 19-year-old winger, whose friends and family were in the stands, now has fours assists this season. He was named third star of the game.

Notes: The game was Therrien's 600th as an NHL head coach. Jiri Sekac was not in the lineup for the Canadiens, as the youngster sat for the second consecutive match. The Habs managed to contain the high-flying Rick Nash, who has scored eight of New York's 22 goals. Nash was kept to just one shot in 15:19 of work.

-- with files from CTV Montreal