MONTREAL -- Facing a formidable possession team, the Montreal Canadiens proved they can be just as strong with the puck.

The Canadiens were in control on the shot clock and the scoreboard early and delivered one of their best efforts of the season in a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

The win extended Montreal's win streak to three games. The team is now 9-0 on home ice this season, matching a franchise record for most home wins to start the season, set in 1953-54.

The Canadiens (12-1-1) had allowed more than 40 shots against in three of their previous four games. Against the Kings, Carey Price faced just 24 shots and allowed just one to get by him.

Paul Byron, Daniel Carr, Phillip Danault and Alex Galchenyuk scored for Montreal.

"It hasn't been perfect," Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty said. "We're trending upwards after tonight. We have gotten bounces. We've relied on Carey too much at times. We've had to kill certain penalties that we wished we didn't have to kill.

"But all things considered, we have the right mindset in this room, and when we win a game, no matter what you kind of look back on that game and see there's a reason for the guys to stand up and feel good about themselves, because we play for one another."

Tyler Toffoli scored for the Kings (7-7-0), who saw their two-game winning streak snapped.

"They got us from behind quite a bit, forced us to turn the puck over," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said of his team. "Some of our faster players weren't on their game tonight."

Goaltender Peter Budaj, making his 11th straight start, stopped 19 shots for Los Angeles against his former team.

The Canadiens opened the scoring for the 11th time in 14 games this season, on a strong shift from their top line.

Alexander Radulov did the hard work down low, circling back to evade defenseman Jake Muzzin before cutting in and getting a shot off in front of Budaj. The Kings netminder made the save but Byron was there to put the rebound behind him at 7:48 of the first period.

"He's a relentless worker out there," Byron said of his linemate. "He always puts himself in smart positions to protect the puck, using his body. He's such a strong guy on the puck, you see he's always chasing, digging, and coming out of those puck battles."

The goal snapped Budaj's shutout streak at 140 minutes and 57 seconds.

Carr doubled Montreal's lead just over six minutes later. Torrey Mitchell won the face-off cleanly, drawing the puck back to Andrei Markov, whose shot from just outside the right circle was tipped by Carr.

Two power plays opened the door for the Kings to get on the board in the first but the visitors couldn't muster much with the man advantage, recording just three shots on goal.

Captain Anze Kopitar came within inches of getting one by Price in the second period when he put the puck behind the goaltender only to see it go along the goal line before defenseman Jeff Petry cleared it out of harm's way.

Danault picked up his fourth of the season at 9:37 of the second period. Pacioretty sent a bouncing puck towards the net that Budaj stopped, but Danault reached to his right to get to the loose puck and, with Andrew Shaw screening and jumping, fired a sharp angle shot to put Montreal ahead 3-0.

Kopitar had another great chance midway through the third when he had an open net on a four-minute power play, only to see Price get a piece of the puck deflect it up and away.

"I don't know how he did it, but he did it," Kopitar said. "The first one I beat him but managed to hit the post and the second one was a highlight-reel save. Probably see that for a while on TV."

But Los Angeles would finally beat Price in the second half of the power play. Kopitar found Toffoli at the right side of the net and the Kings winger lifted it past Price at 11:57.

The goal snapped a 0-for-23 drought on the power play for Los Angeles.

Galchenyuk fired into an empty net at 18:11 to cap off the scoring.

NOTES: The Canadiens made two lineup changes, inserting RW Sven Andrighetto and D Joel Hanley in place of C David Desharnais and D Greg Pateryn. ... Eligible to return after serving a three-game suspension, Los Angeles D Tom Gilbert was a healthy scratch along with C Jordan Nolan. Gilbert spent the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons with the Canadiens. ... Montreal C Tomas Plekanec played in his 857th NHL game, tying him with Tom Johnson for 15th place on the Canadiens' career games played list. ... Before the game, the Habs honored former Canadiens and Kings G Rogatien Vachon, who will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday.