Goaltending was probably going to steal much of the attention anyway.
The Coyotes’ Louis Domingue, who grew up just east of Montreal, was facing the Canadiens for the first time since he posted his inaugural NHL win against his hometown team last season.
But the spotlight on the Coyotes’ net grew once Domingue’s usual understudy, Anders Lindback, suffered an injury prior to Monday’s puck drop.
The Coyotes reached out to Nathan Schoenfeld, a former ASU club hockey player, to sit on the bench in a No. 40 sweater and black cap as the team’s backup and although his services weren’t needed, Schoenfeld had a front-row view to a much-needed win for the home crew as a last-minute serving of adversity didn’t distract the Coyotes from dispatched the Canadiens 6-2 in front of 14,338 at Gila River Arena.