Coyotes score 1 goal in loss to Canadiens and goalie Carey Price

GLENDALE, Ariz. — On a night that Max Domi returned to face his former team, his teammate Carey Price and the Coyotes’ one-goal game became the storylines in the team’s 2-1 loss to Montreal on Thursday.

Their game on Tuesday was inconsistent and frustrating. But their Thursday-night contest against the Canadiens was the 300th career win for the elite goaltender Price, which was fitting because the Coyotes’ game overall wasn’t bad. They just didn’t score more goals than the other team. Good goaltending will do that.

“I thought we did a better job of managing the puck and getting the puck deep when we didn’t have the chance to make a play and stuff like that,” Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. “I thought we played better than the last couple games, but now we’ve got to look ahead and try to get even better and try to find ways to win. We’re close, but we don’t get points being close.”

On the offensive side, Arizona put good pressure on Price at times and outshot Montreal 37-28, but goals from Shea Weber and Paul Byron made the difference as Ekman-Larsson scored the only goal for the Coyotes.

“Carey Price is world-class, he made some great saves,” head coach Rick Tocchet said. “I thought we missed the net a couple times there when we had people in front, we’ve got to hit those nets. But the guys worked hard.”

Arizona has scored just two goals in its last three games.

“Goal-scoring or passing and stuff, there’s a lot of deception and skill to it. We had that 2-on-1, I’d like to see a little more deception, kind of freeze Price,” Tocchet said explaining he’d like to see a more finesse approach to scoring goals. “Right now, we just want to get the puck on net, which we want to, but I think there’s got to be some deception in your shots, deception in your passing. And I think that’s something we’re trying to work on every day.”

Meanwhile, in Domi’s return, the former Coyotes forward had two shots on goal and played 18:17, including 2:44 on the power play. Alex Galchenyuk, the forward for whom Domi was traded, also had two shots on goal. Neither player made it onto the score sheet.

“Yeah but I mean at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter, we didn’t get the job done,” Galchenyuk said when asked if he saw improvement from the Coyotes on Thursday. “Created opportunities, the goalie played well, we’ve just got to find a way.”

On facing his former team, Galchenyuk said, “I was fired up, there was a lot of emotions, but the second the puck dropped, it was just another game.”

Price made 36 saves. Darcy Kuemper started for Arizona and stopped 26.

The Coyotes have one more game on this three-game homestand, which will end Saturday with a contest against the Colorado Avalanche. Puck drop for that one is at 5 p.m. before the Coyotes go to San Jose for the second half of a back-to-back ahead of the Christmas break.

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