National Hockey League
Montreal 5, Arizona 2
When: 7:30 PM ET, Thursday, October 20, 2016
Where: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
Referees: Marc Joannette, Tom Kowal
Linesmen: Steve Barton, Greg Devorski
Attendance: 21288

MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens had a familiar face back between the pipes but it was a high-profile newcomer that made the difference Thursday night.

Shea Weber scored his first goal in a Montreal uniform and added an assist to help the Canadiens to a 5-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes at the Bell Centre. The goal, a power play tally, stood as the game-winner, and earned a loud cheer from the capacity crowd when it was announced.

"It's unbelievable," Weber said of the reception from fans. "I can't describe the feeling; it's pretty special. I'm happy to be a part of this team, this organization and hopefully we can do good things here."

Alexei Emelin, Torrey Mitchell, Alex Galchenyuk and Artturi Lehkonen also scored for Montreal (3-0-1), which has scored at least three goals in each of its first four games.

Jakob Chychrun and Laurent Dauphin tallied for the Coyotes (1-2-0), who have allowed 15 goals in their first three games of the season.

"We competed hard but there are areas of our game we still have to clean up, though," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "Some of the execution is not what it needs to be and for us, we need all the parts to work for us to be real competitive. When you have those lapses, whether giving up a power play goal or whatever it is, we've got to be tighter than that."

Montreal's Carey Price, making his first regular season start since Nov. 25, made 27 saves.

"It's nice to get back into the routine and get to feel the regular season again," Price said.

Louis Domingue allowed four goals on 19 shots before he was lifted for Justin Peters. Peters stopped 23 shots in relief.

Emelin snapped an 86-game goalless drought to open the scoring at 13:20 of the first period. Paul Byron sent a David Desharnais feed over to Emelin at the blue line, and the Canadiens defenseman skated to just outside the left circle before blasting one past a screened Domingue.

Mitchell doubled Montreal's lead at 2:07 of the second period. Defenseman Nathan Beaulieu put in a strong effort along the right boards and never lost control of the puck in a battle before dishing off a perfect cross-ice feed to Mitchell in the left circle for the one-timer.

Weber notched his first itwo minutes later on the power play when Andrei Markov set him up for his noted slap shot at the top of the left circle. Galchenyuk chased Domingue shortly thereafter when he shimmied into the Coyotes' zone and fired a shot from just outside the left circle that beat the netminder blocker side at 5:49.

Chychrun, the 16th overall pick at the 2016 NHL Draft, netted his first career goal to get Arizona on the board less than a minute later. Canadiens rookie defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, the ninth overall pick in June, tried to clear the puck during a scramble in the crease but it went right to Chychrun at the hashmarks.

"I've been saying for a while I feel like I can play in this league," said the rookie, who played just over 19 minutes. "I'm just trying to do my best to prove that every night. I definitely do feel like I'm getting more confident every night, for sure. That always helps. I've just got to keep doing that consistently."

Dauphin made it 4-2 when he took advantage of a collision with Beaulieu that knocked the Montreal blueliner out of the play and, with the Coyotes shorthanded, backhanded a rebound past Price at 16:09.

Lehkonen notched his second of the season at 12:38 of the third period. Tomas Plekanec picked up a loose puck off a Weber shot and fed the rookie all alone in the slot.

NOTES: With G Carey Price returning, the Canadiens assigned G Charlie Lindgren to the AHL St. John's IceCaps earlier in the day. ... Montreal kept its lineup intact from Tuesday's win, leaving LW Daniel Carr, D Greg Pateryn and D Zach Redmond as the healthy scratches. ... The Coyotes scratched LW Lawson Crouse, D Kevin Connauton, G Mike Smith (lower body), LW Jamie McGinn (upper body), and D Michael Stone (knee). ... Former Canadiens D Jarred Tinordi, traded to Arizona last season, served the second-to-last game of his suspension for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program. ... Arizona C Laurent Dauphin, a Montreal native, played his first game at the Bell Centre. ... Montreal announced just before the game that D Zach Redmond is out for six weeks with a broken foot suffered in practice.
Top Game Performances
 
Arizona   Montreal
Jakob Chychrun 1 Points Shea Weber 2
Jakob Chychrun 1 Goals Shea Weber 1
Jordan Martinook 1 Assists Paul Byron 2
N/A Power Play Goals Shea Weber 1
Laurent Dauphin 1 Short Handed Goals N/A
Justin Peters .958 Save Percentage Carey Price .931
Justin Peters 23 Saves Carey Price 27
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Arizona 29 2 0-2 3-4 10 33
Montreal 43 5 1-4 2-2 6 28
Upcoming Games
  • Montreal will play their next game on the road against Boston. The Canadiens have a W/L % of .667 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.
  • Arizona will play their next game on the road against NY Islanders. The Coyotes have a W/L % of .500 after a win and .000 after a loss.