PITTSBURGH — With first place in the Eastern Conference at stake and tired legs on both benches, the Montreal Canadiens played with more energy.

Both teams had played the previous night, but Montreal took an early two-goal lead, repeatedly snatched the puck from the Pittsburgh Penguins and came away with a 4-1 victory Saturday night.

The Canadiens completed a 4-0 road trip that began after the NHL’s Christmas break.

“We knew this was going to be a tough road trip, especially after a bit of a little bit of a break, and to be honest, I think we’ve been playing our best hockey and been doing really good things with the puck,” said defenseman Tom Gilbert, who also scored for Montreal. “We’ve been keeping it simple, especially on the road.”

The win was Montreal’s sixth straight overall and fifth in a row on the road. The Canadiens head home in first place in the East with 54 points.

“It shows a lot of character in this locker room,” Gilbert said. “It’s our last game in this road trip, and we know that we’re going home and I just think we use that confidence that we’ve been playing on the road here and we kind of took it into tonight.”

Max Pacioretty, who finished with a goal and an assist, and David Desharnais scored in the first 7 minutes. Gilbert added his goal for the Canadiens in the second period, and Alexei Emelin put it out of reach with one in the third.

David Perron, acquired from Edmonton the previous day, scored in his first game with the Penguins, who had won two games in a row.

Carey Price made 30 saves for his 22nd win as Montreal improved to 9-2 against Metropolitan Division clubs and leapfrogged the Penguins in the East.

“It builds a lot of confidence moving forward, knowing we can keep pace with these guys,” Price said.

The Penguins, coming off a 6-3 win against Tampa Bay on Friday night, has totaled four goals in four of their past five games. They turned the puck over 10 times against the Canadiens.

Pittsburgh coach Mike Johnston attributed the lack of offense in this game to things both teams did.