Carey Price will be back in goal Friday vs. Islanders

Martin Hanzal and Shane Doan scored in the first period, and the Arizona Coyotes held on for a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.

The 25-year-old rookie was making a ninth straight start.

That makes the decision to start Halak in Friday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens nothing too make or break – but still good news for the Metropolitan Division club, who are looking for a third consecutive win against the slowly regressing Atlantic Division powerhouse. “We played the game fast”. The other Arizona win came in the Coyotes’ inaugural season when they defeated Montreal, 5-4, on October 28, 1996 behind two goals from Mike Gartner and two assists from Jeremy Roenick. “He felt good. We’re happy about that”.

Mike Condon did a solid job holding the fort, but now Carey Price is ready to go back into the Montreal Canadiens net. The Canadiens are second in the National Hockey League with 67 goals (Dallas 68) and their special teams are strong as they were fourth in the National Hockey League on the power play (23.9) percent and fourth in penalty killing (86.4) entering Wednesday. “As I said when he was first injured, when he feels ready, not only physically but in terms of being able to perform, he’ll let us know”, Therrien said. With only counter-attack rushes to depend on to create chances, the Habs often looked more like a team trying not to give up the next goal than a team in the process of getting back in the game. He has allowed 10 goals in going 1-1-1 in his past tree starts.

The Canadiens gave up an early goal for the fifth straight game when Montreal native Anthony Duclair used a burst of speed to set up Hanzal for a goal into an open side at 5:04.

With shades of Monday’s comeback against the Canucks fading, Max Pacioretty got the Habs back in the game with a backhand slap on a puck that Brendan Gallagher threw to front of the net.

Weise deflected Andrei Markov’s shot in at 19:09 with Condon pulled for an extra attacker. “We have an idea, but we’re playing it really one game at a time”.

“I was hoping we’d play well”, Tippett said.

The Coyotes road trip ends Saturday in Winnipeg, where Doan began his career in 1995-96.

NOTES: Montreal forward Torrey Mitchell left in the third period with a undisclosed injury….

The Canadiens put Paul Byron into the lineup and scratched right winger Alexander Semin.