MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens' power play has been a powerful weapon so far this season, and on Tuesday night, it struck at just the right time.

With the game tied and a late third period man-advantage in Montreal's favor, left winger Max Pacioretty found the back of the net to give the Canadiens a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Bell Centre.

"They had their chance on the power play and it seems like the same story so often this year is that special teams is the big difference," said Pacioretty, who has scored the game-winner in each of the last four meetings with Columbus (10-16-0). "Our kill was great today and the difference was scoring on the power play."

Left winger Paul Byron also scored for the Canadiens (19-4-3). Left winger Nick Foligno replied for Columbus.

"We have to find a way to get points," Foligno said. "Sometimes we have to understand that it's OK to punt. We've got to get points, find our rhythm and confidence will come from that."

Byron opened the scoring with his third of the season at 2:51 of the first period. With the puck tied up in a battle along the left boards, defenseman Nathan Beaulieu poked it up to Byron, who dished off to right winger Christian Thomas with a cross-ice feed. Thomas drove up the right side before tossing the puck back over to Byron in the slot for the perfect tip past Bobrovsky.

Foligno snapped a 20-game goal drought to tie it up at 17:23. Condon got a piece of center Ryan Johansen's shot from the right circle with his glove before it hit the end boards. Foligno was first to the rebound, picking up the loose puck and tucking it in blocker side on a sprawled Condon.

Just over 30 seconds later, the Canadiens found themselves down to five defenseman after Alexei Emelin was handed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a hit on left winger Matt Calvert.

"It was 1-1 at that time and you've got a five-minute kill, two minutes in the first and three in the second," said Condon, who stopped 22 shots. "Those are key momentum points. It was big confidence booster for us and helped us get rolling in the second."

After a scoreless second period, both sides had prime chances to put their teams ahead. First, left winger Brandon Saad went wide on a two-on-one rush with right winger Cam Atkinson. A few minutes later, Pacioretty beat Bobrovsky but not the crossbar with a shot from just inside the left circle.

The Canadiens' potent power play connected for the winner at 17:51. Quick passing at the blue line kept the puck in the Blue Jackets' zone before Subban fed

Weise at the goal line to Bobrovsky's right. Weise found Pacioretty uncovered in the slot and the Canadiens captain made no mistake for his 13th of the season.

"We played our (butt) off," Columbus coach John Tortorella said. "We played well enough to win and we found a way to lose. They didn't beat us; we beat ourselves."

Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves for the Blue Jackets.

NOTES: Montreal made one change to its line-up, inserting D Alexei Emelin for D Greg Pateryn, who was a heathy scratch alongside LW Daniel Carr, called up from AHL St. John's on Sunday. ... Blue Jackets C Brandon Dubinsky returned to the line-up after serving a one-game suspension for a crosscheck to the back of the head/neck area of Pittsburgh Penguins C Sidney Crosby. ... Columbus scratched C Michael Chaput and D Dalton Prout while D Fedor Tyutin, RW Rene Bourque and RW Jared Boll remained sidelined with injuries. ... Canadiens coach Michel Therrien stood behind the bench for his 700th game as an NHL head coach. ... Montreal D Andrei Markov appeared in his 872nd career game, moving him into sole possession of 13th place on Canadiens' all-time list. ... The game was one of eight road games -- of 14 overall -- the Blue Jackets will play in December.