(Sports Network) - Carey Price knew the pressure would be back on his shoulders when an offseason trade once again made him the Canadiens' No. 1 goaltender.
Seven games into the 2010-11 season and the 23-year-old is responding.
Coming off his first shutout in nearly two years, Price could make his eighth straight start tonight when Montreal takes aim at a seventh straight victory over the Phoenix Coyotes, who haven't posted a victory in this series in nearly 12 years.
After going just 13-20-5 with a 2.77 goals-against average in 41 games last year, Price watched Jaroslav Halak get the bulk of the work in Montreal's postseason run. Halak, though, was dealt to the Blues this offseason and Price, the fifth overall pick of the 2005 draft, once again became the man between the pipes.
Price has rewarded the Habs with a 4-2-1 record and 2.27 GAA over the club's first seven games. After being on the wrong end of a shutout loss to the Devils on Thursday, Price turned aside all 19 shots fired his way in Saturday's 3-0 triumph over Ottawa.
The shutout was the fifth of Price's career and first since Nov. 11, 2008, also against the Senators.
Andrei Kostitsyn doubled his season goal total with a two-goal effort and Benoit Pouliot also scored versus Ottawa for Montreal, which has won three of its last four games.
Though he doesn't own a shutout of the Coyotes in his career, Price is 3-0-0 with a 1.67 GAA in three career starts against the franchise, stopping 83- of-88 shots.
Price will try to extend the Habs' 11-game unbeaten streak over the Coyotes. Montreal has won six straight and is 8-0 with three ties since its last loss in this series on Dec. 9, 1998 on the road.
The Coyotes franchise hasn't picked up a victory at the Bell Centre since Oct. 28, 1996, its first season in Phoenix since relocating from Winnipeg. The club is 0-5 with a pair of ties in seven trips since.
Like Price, Coyotes forward Kyle Turris has also had a rough road in the NHL. The third overall pick of the '07 draft skated in 63 games with Phoenix in 2008-09, but managed just 20 points and spent all of last year in the minors.
Now in his second run in the NHL, the 21-year-old failed to record a point in his first three games this year, but netted a pair of third-period goals on Saturday's 4-3 overtime loss to Carolina and assisted on Scottie Upshall's game-tying goal with 1:40 left in regulation that allowed Phoenix to capture a point.
The Coyotes trailed 3-0 until Turris lit the lamp 5:45 into the third period. Ilya Bryzgalov made 37 saves as Phoenix failed to notch consecutive wins for the first time this year and fell to 2-2-2.
"I give the guys full marks for finding a way to get a point," said Phoenix head coach Dave Tippett. "But the reality is, is if we play like that we're not gonna get anywhere."
The Coyotes begin a three-game road trip once again without captain Shane Doan, who concludes a three-game suspension tonight for a hit to the head versus the Ducks last Sunday.
Bryzgalov has lost both of his career starts versus Montreal, yielding seven goals on 52 shots.