MONTREAL — Paul Byron got his first career hat trick while Nicolas Deslauriers, Jacob de la Rose and Dan Carr each got his first goal of the season as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the slumping Detroit Red Wings 10-1 Saturday night for their fifth straight victory.
Charles Hudon, Jordie Benn, Andrew Shaw and Brendan Gallagher, with his 100th career goal, also scored for the Canadiens (13-12-3), who were coming off a 6-3 win in Detroit on Thursday night.
Montreal outshot the Red Wings 34-23 Carey Price has won all five starts he has made, allowing only six goals, since returning last week from a 10-game absence with a lower-body injury.
Andreas Athanasiou scored for the Red Wings (10-12-5), who saw their winless run reach seven games (0-4-3), their longest spell without a victory since Nov. 4-19, 2013.
Alex Galchenyuk had four assists, a single-game career high.
The Canadiens struck twice in 32 seconds in the opening period.
Byron picked up a pass from Galchenyuk at his own blue line and raced in alone to beat Petr Mrazek to the top corner at 5:22 and Deslauriers was left open in front to fire in a Byron Froese feed from behind the net at 5:54. It was Deslauriers’ first goal for Montreal.
Byron went alone again to score inside the near post 1:51 into the second frame.
De la Rose scored shorthanded as he completed a two on one with Deslauriers with a tap-in at 4:58. It was a first goal in 50 games since April 11, 2015 for de la Rose.
Hudon picked the top corner from close range on a power play at 13:43.
That chased Mrazek, who allowed five goals on 25 shots, in favour of Jimmy Howard.
Byron got his third of the game with a low shot from the slot at 15:38.
Gallagher went in alone to score his 13th of the season 1:01 into the third. Tomas Plekanec’s assist moved him into a tie with Dickie Moore for 13th place in Canadiens all-time scoring with 593.
Benn scored on a blast from the left circle at 6:15.
Athanasiou ended the shutout bid when his shot from the right side for behind Price and rolled to the goal-line where it was poked in by a defender at 9:46. Carr got it back at 11:52 as he elected to shoot on a two on one. Shaw’s long wrist shot eluded Howard at 16:26.
Defenceman Shea Weber returned after missing six games with a lower-body injury, bumping Jakub Jerebek from the Montreal lineup. Forward Jonathan Drouin missed a second game with a lower-body ailment.
Detroit had Martin Frk back after missing eight games with a groin injury.
