MONTREAL -- Before the Montreal Canadiens' home opener, the Bell Centre crowd gave a huge ovation to ailing goaltender Carey Price.
After the game, they did the same for his replacement, Al Montoya.
The veteran backup, filling in for a third straight game while Price recovers from a flu, posted a 36-save shutout to lead the Canadiens to a 4-0 victory over the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.
In three starts to begin the season, Montoya has a nifty 1.30 goals-against average and a .962 save percentage.
"I feel I've been trying to make a statement for a while," said Montoya, a backup most of his career who signed as a free agent this summer from the Florida Panthers. "For me, this is just an opportunity to play.
"I don't try to overdo anything. I come out, have fun, play my game and let the rest take care of itself. The win is fantastic. That's all we play for, but maybe (the shutout) was the cherry on top."
David Desharnais scored twice. Another off-season signing, Alexander Radulov, got his first goal as a Canadien -- with Montoya picking up an assist. Captain Max Pacioretty also scored for Montreal (2-0-1).
"When you see Monty make some of those saves, it gives us an opportunity to try to get him the shutout and try to get some goals for him," said Pacioretty. "You have to credit most of that game to him because he was incredible.
"He played great all three games, but tonight, he gave us a chance. After our goal they had a flurry of chances. There were a couple of times in the first period when he had to come up big. The timeliness of those saves allowed us to get some momentum."
Price fell ill just before the start of the regular season. He got back to work on his own on Sunday and had his first workout with his teammates in the morning skate on Tuesday. It was uncertain if he will be ready to play when the Arizona Coyotes visit on Thursday night.
The Penguins (2-1-1), coming off an overtime loss at home Monday night, played their first road game of the season. Pittsburgh outshot the Canadiens 36-32.
"We have to forget these two games and look forward," said Penguins star Evgeni Malkin. "We have to stay positive right now.
"We knew (Price) was not playing. We know they have a good team. It was opening game for Montreal. And Montoya's a good goalie too. He saved a lot tonight. But we need to score goals because we have great four lines. We had lots of power plays too (0 for 8), but made lots of mistakes."
There were 30 shots taken in the first period -- 17-13 for Pittsburgh -- but was on only the second of the period that Pacioretty opened the scoring at the 23-second mark as he took a feed in the slot from Jeff Petry and beat Marc-Andre Fleury with a wrist shot. Of note were Montoya saves a minute apart in the first on close range attempts by Justin Schultz and Matt Cullen.
Desharnais was parked alone in front of Fleury when he slammed in Pacioretty's blind, backhand pass from the corner 12:07 into the second frame.
Radulov scored 4:31 into the third as he burst down the right wing, cut in front and scored. The Penguins challenged, claiming goaltender interference by Brendan Gallagher, but it was ruled the puck was in before contact was made.
Desharnais was alone at the side of the net to tap in a Jeff Petry cross-ice pass at 13:44 after sustained pressure in the Pittsburgh zone.
