MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens may have been missing two of their top offensive centers but based on their effort against the New Jersey Devils, you wouldn't know it.

Torrey Mitchell scored twice and the Canadiens tossed a season high 49 shots on goal en route to a 5-2 win over the Devils on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

Phillip Danault, Artturi Lehkonen and Max Pacioretty also scored for Montreal (18-6-3), which learned it would be without both Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais for six to eight weeks a day earlier.

"The message was that it's going to be a character night for us," said Mitchell of what the team said before the game. "We want to show that we're about more than two players. They're two important players for us that are injured but we have players that are capable of stepping up. We saw that tonight."

Carey Price earned its 2,000th home win in franchise history.

Adam Henrique and Taylor Hall scored for the Devils (12-8-6), who fell for the first time in regulation in December.

"A tough game," said Cory Schneider, who made 44 saves. "They were on the puck, they skated well, they forechecked well. Doesn't help giving them a goal there at the end by me. There's a lot we can all do better but at the same time, we have to regroup, head home tomorrow and play a good St. Louis team."

Carey Price stopped 19 shots for the Canadiens.

The opening 20 minutes nearly took three times as long to complete, thanks to countless lengthy reviews and a late melee.

It began with the opening goal from Danault at 12:49. Nathan Beaulieu, who returned after a six-game absence due to injury, fired a shot from the top of the left circle. With Danault and Lehkonen camped out in front of Schneider, the shot hit Danault and fluttered past the Devils netminder.

After officials reviewed the play and determined the puck entered the net in a legal fashion, Devils coach John Hynes challenged for goaltender interference, but officials upheld the call on the ice.

"It really doesn't matter what I agree or disagree with," Hynes said. "It is what it is. In all the situations in the goalie challenges, that's on the referees."

Henrique's tally at 16:19 would undergo the same process. Price saved Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau's shot from the bottom of the right circle but Henrique cleaned up the loose puck in front.

Officials reviewed the play to see if it was kicked in and when the call stood, the Canadiens immediately challenged for goaltender interference, as Henrique knocked Price over but it was deemed the puck was already on its way in when he was taken down.

Mitchell put Montreal back in front less than a minute later when his shot from the bottom of the left circle snuck in short side when it hit Devils winger Nick Lappin's skate after Schneider made the initial save.

An already lengthy period stretched a little longer with less than 20 seconds to play. Kyle Palmieri collided into Price skates first and took him down. The Canadiens goaltender showed his displeasure with several punches to the winger's back with his blocker.

"I got run over on the first goal so I figured I wasn't going to take another one," Price said of his outburst. "Just got fired up."

Schneider understood the meltdown.

"Obviously, he was pretty upset and frustrated," he said. "There's a lot riding on that knee, for both him and their team. I can understand why after what he went through last year, he'd be pretty upset."

Lehkonen made it 3-1 at 9:59 of the second period. Schneider denied Danault's attempts as the Canadiens center tried to whack at the puck in front but Lehkonen was there to poke home the rebound.

It marked the seventh time in his last eight games that the Devils goaltender has given up at least three goals.

Pacioretty's third goal in the past three games extended the lead just 45 seconds into the third period. New Jersey's clearing attempt hit Vernon Fiddler's skate and found its way to Pacioretty, whose backhander from just inside the left circle trickled past Schneider.

The Devils cut into the lead on the power play at 3:07 when Henrique sent a perfect blind backhand pass to Hall alone at the bottom of the circle.

Mitchell notched his second of the night when snuck the puck by Schneider on a wraparound.

NOTES: Montreal announced just before the game that D Greg Pateryn would miss eight weeks with a fractured ankle suffered on Tuesday in St. Louis. ... Canadiens D Zach Redmond made his season debut after recovering from a broken foot suffered in training camp while D Nathan Beaulieu returned after missing six games with an upper-body injury after taking a puck to the neck on Nov. 22. Montreal LW Phillip Danault dressed after missing the morning skate due to illness... The Devils scratched D Jon Merrill, C Jacob Josefson and C Pavel Zacha (facial injury). ... The game was the lone Bell Centre meeting between the two teams this season.