MONTREAL -- Strong outings from goaltender Carey Price are commonplace for the Montreal Canadiens. This season, the team's depth is also helping fuel its red-hot start.

Price stopped all 38 shots he faced, and nine Canadiens collected a point, lifting Montreal to a 3-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.

Left winger Max Pacioretty, right winger Alexander Semin and center Torrey Mitchell scored for the Canadiens, who improved to 7-0-0.

"This is the best team we've played against," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "This is the best checking team we've played against. They use their fourth line, an experienced group of players, to check our top players, and they did a hell of a job.

"This is a well-coached, disciplined, play-the-game-the-right-way team. They're going to be a bear all year for everybody."

Goaltender Jake Allen made 33 saves for St. Louis (5-2-0).

Trailing only Montreal in the NHL standings entering the game, the Blues took it to the home team in the opening period, outshooting the Canadiens 17-11. However, for the sixth time in seven games this season, the Canadiens got on the board first.

Right winger Brendan Gallagher came out with the puck along the left wall and dished off to center Tomas Plekanec inside the blue line. Plekanec skated to the top of the right circle and banked the puck in off Pacioretty, battling with defenseman Alex Pietrangelo in front of Allen, at 18:27.

"The first period was a bit of a wake-up call," Mitchell said. "They were ready to play. We have to be ready for that every time a team comes in here because we have a target on our back with our record. We have to be better in the first period."

Montreal doubled its lead at 4:52 of the second. Canadiens center Alex Galchenyuk showed patience between the blue line and circles before dishing off to Alexander Semin.

Semin, with his back to the goal, spun around and fired a wrister from outside the right circle for his first goal of the season.

The Blues thought they cut the deficit in half a few minutes later on the power play when defenseman Jay Bouwmeester sent the puck in from the neutral zone. Price left his net to play it from the back boards, only to see the puck wind up in the net.

The goal was immediately waved off, with the referee noting the puck hit the curved stanchion at the end of the St. Louis bench, ending the play.

"We had a pretty good start, a bunch of shots, a bunch of chances," Bouwmeester said. "Then they get a pretty lucky bounce on the first one, the second one was just a shot through traffic, and then we couldn't score. At times we played well, got a lot of shots but just couldn't get it done."

Mitchell made it 3-0 at 11:53 of the third period. With the faceoff in the Blues' end following an icing call, Mitchell won the draw. Right winger Devante Smith-Pelly got the puck over to defenseman P.K. Subban at the point, and the Montreal blue-liner fired a shot that turned into a juicy rebound in the slot, and Mitchell was there to pounce.

"We've been talking about it since the start of the year," Gallagher said. "We feel like we come out in the third period energized because we roll four lines, and the depth of our team. Line after line comes up, and we're a little bit fresher in the third period. We felt good. We felt that if we continued to stay on them, pressure them into mistakes, we'd be able to take some chances."

NOTES: St. Louis C Paul Stastny missed his second consecutive game with a lower-body injury. C Robby Fabbri (concussion) and D Kevin Shattenkirk (lower body) were sidelined for a fifth and fourth game, respectively. ... Blues D Chris Butler was a healthy scratch. ... Montreal used the same lineup for the seventh game in a row, scratching LW Paul Byron, D Greg Pateryn and D Jarred Tinordi. ... Canadiens C Alex Galchenyuk suited up for his 200th NHL game. ... Montreal D Andrei Markov appeared in his 853rd NHL game, tying Jacques Lemaire for 15th on the team's career list. ... St. Louis G Jake Allen spent nearly two years of his junior career playing in Montreal with the QMJHL's Juniors.