Canadiens 4, Maple Leafs 3: Tomas Plekanec snapped a tie midway through the third period as visiting Montreal took the deciding game of its season series against Toronto.

Rene Bourque and captain Brian Gionta each recorded a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, who moved five points ahead of the Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division and within one of Tampa Bay for second. Max Pacioretty opened the scoring with his 31st tally and Carey Price made 33 saves.

Joffrey Lupul registered a goal and an assist while Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri also scored for Toronto, which has lost four straight and five of its last six. James Reimer stopped 32 shots in his fourth consecutive defeat as the Maple Leafs remained one point ahead of Detroit for the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Toronto trailed 3-2 after two periods, but Kadri took a feed from Lupul at the side of the net during a power play and buried it 2:49 into the third to knot the contest. The game remained even until Plekanec sent a sharp-angle shot under Reimer just as James van Riemsdyk’s goaltender interference penalty expired for his first goal since Feb. 6.

Pacioretty’s quick wrist shot from the high slot beat Reimer between the pads 5:47 into the game and Bourque made it 2-0 just 65 seconds later. Lupul and Bozak scored later in the first to tie it before Gionta wired a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle past Reimer with 53 seconds left in the period to restore Montreal's lead.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Price has allowed at least three goals in each of his four starts since returning from an injury suffered during the Winter Olympics. … Montreal D P.K. Subban recorded an assist, giving him six points in five games against the Maple Leafs. … Toronto C Dave Bolland played for the first time since Nov. 2, winning eight of his nine faceoffs and finishing minus-1 with one shot and three hits in 9:01 of ice time. ... Montreal won three of the five meetings while Toronto finished the season series 2-2-1.