MONTREAL -- The Winnipeg Jets have their eyes on a playoff spot and put together another strong effort to inch just a tad closer to their goal.

Mathieu Perreault scored early in the third period to lift the Jets to a 3-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday afternoon at the Bell Centre.

"We've had three really, really strong games, and more of the same tonight," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "Really strong with our gap, not giving the other team a whole lot, and getting enough offense. This time of year, you're probably not going to see the 7-6 games anymore and you're going to get into the 2-1 games, and we were comfortable with that and played well."

Joel Armia and Patrik Laine also scored for Winnipeg, which earned points for a third straight game to keep pace in the race for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Andrei Markov replied for Montreal, which played its first game under Claude Julien after he was hired on Feb. 14.

"You could see there was a lot of nervousness in the group but also a little lack of confidence right now," Julien said. "I found we were in between in a lot of areas. That's not system, that's confidence.

"I think we need to find our confidence here in the next couple of days before we head out to New York. We need to be better without the puck so that we can play with the puck a little bit more."

Carey Price made 30 saves for the Canadiens (31-20-8), who kept up the trend of teams losing coming off their bye week.

"It's the battle between being fresh and being sharp," Max Pacioretty said. "The difference between the two is so slight so it's tough to feel perfect. Every team's had to deal with it. That's the luxury of having a bye week. I wish we showed up a little better and had better legs.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 19 shots for Winnipeg (27-29-6), which earned just its second win in its last nine games in Montreal.

Both sides had chances early to get the scoring started but Hellebuyck denied Paul Byron with a shot from the slot while Price got his blocker on a Blake Wheeler shot from the circle. Price looked like his old self a little later in the period when he flashed the glove to deny Laine after the Canadiens struggled to clear the zone.

That proved to be a key save for Montreal, setting the stage for the home side to take the lead moments later.

The Canadiens intercepted Ben Chiarot's clearing attempt and, after Alex Galchenyuk fed an unattended Max Pacioretty in the right circle, Pacioretty sent it toward the net where Markov easily tapped in his fourth of the season at 11:04.

Armia tied it with his first career shorthanded goal at 4:52 of the second period. Nathan Beaulieu tried to make his way through the neutral zone but gave up the puck to Armia, who skated in alone before deking to beat Price.

"That was huge," Perreault said. "We were playing a great game until then and then he ties the game up, and from there we feel like we just took over."

Perreault put the Jets in front at 1:16 of the third. Dustin Byfuglien showed off his skills as he worked his way from the blue line down low, maintaining control of the puck with just one hand on his stick. The puck made its way to Perreault in front, where he lifted a backhander for his fifth of the season.

"You always celebrate goals, but when you've got 12 guys on the bench turned backwards to look at the TV monitor, that's pretty special," Maurice said of Byfuglien's work on the tally. "I haven't seen a lot of one-handed, inside toe drags to your back foot into the slot. He's the one guy that's capable of doing it."

Price came up big again in the final minutes of the third with another glove save on Laine, who later sealed the win with his 28th goal into an empty net.

NOTES: Montreal D Andrei Markov played in his 968th career game, tying Yvan Cournoyer for seventh place on the Canadiens' all-time list. ... Called up from the AHL's St. John's IceCaps on Friday, Canadiens C/W Michael McCarron was in the lineup, while C David Desharnais, RW Sven Andrighetto and D Greg Pateryn were healthy scratches. ... Winnipeg scratched RW Drew Stafford and D Julian Melchiori, while C Andrew Copp missed his second game because of an upper-body injury. ... The game was the second of a four-game trip for the Jets, who will go on to play the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs.