Carey Price made 27 saves in his much-anticipated season debut as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-2 on Thursday night.
Alexei Emelin, Torrey Mitchell, Shea Weber, Alex Galchenyuk and Artturi Lehkonen scored for Montreal (3-0-1).
Jakob Chychrun and Laurent Dauphin scored for the visiting Coyotes (1-2-0).
Playing for the injured Mike Smith, backup goaltender Louis Domingue conceded four goals on 19 shots before being pulled in the second period. Justin Peters stopped 23-of-24 shots in relief.
Price made his first NHL start since injuring his right knee on Nov. 25, 2015. The 29-year-old also missed the first three games of this season with a severe flu. Montreal went 2-0-1 without him.
Price wasn't tested much in the opening frame. The Habs netminder eased back into NHL action by making eight fairly easy saves in the first period. He didn't face a shot until 6:30 into the encounter.
