Canadiens 4, Hurricanes 0: Carey Price registered his career high-tying eighth shutout of the season as host Montreal grabbed a share of first place in the race for the Presidents' Trophy.

Dale Weise and Max Pacioretty each recorded a goal and an assist while Brendan Gallagher and David Desharnais also scored for the Canadiens, who pulled even with Anaheim atop the league standings at 97 points - four more than second-place Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division. Tomas Plekanec notched a pair of assists and Price made 31 saves en route to his league-leading 39th victory and the 33rd blanking of his career.

Anton Khudobin turned aside 18 shots in his third consecutive start for the Hurricanes, who were outscored 11-2 while being swept of the three-game season series. Carolina outshot Montreal 16-5 in the third period but was unable to solve Price as it fell to 2-5-2 in its last nine games.

Montreal took the lead just 5:51 into the contest as Weise buried the rebound of Manny Malhotra's shot from the doorstep for his first goal in 20 games. Gallagher doubled the lead less than three minutes later, beating Khudobin with a backhander from in front after the netminder made a pair of saves on Plekanec.

Desharnais made it 3-0 with 72 seconds remaining in the middle period with a perfect tap-in off a feed from the right faceoff circle by defenseman Tom Gilbert. Pacioretty capped the scoring with 5:14 left in the third, banking the puck off Khudobin's stick and in from below the end line on the right side of the net.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Plekanec's two assists gave him 292 as a Canadien, tying him with Toe Blake for 26th place on the franchise list. ... Carolina D Danny Biega made his NHL debut, recording two blocked shots and a minus-2 rating in 14:26 of ice time. ... Pacioretty has collected nine goals and eight assists in 17 career meetings with the Hurricanes.