MONTREAL — Shea Weber led, the Montreal Canadiens followed.

Thursday’s game was supposed to belong to goaltender Carey Price, who was making his first meaningful start for the Canadiens in 331 days, but he wasn’t the difference-maker in their 5-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes.

Montreal (3-0-1) had a 4-0 lead before Price had even faced 10 shots, and he held the fort with 27 saves when all was said and done.

But it was Weber who set the tone with a bone-crunching hit on Arizona’s Tobias Rieder on the game’s first shift.

Seven minutes later, with the Canadiens on a power play, the defenceman uncorked that vicious slapshot of his and smashed the post behind Coyotes goaltender Louis Domingue. Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher put the rebound off the post, too, and the puck found Rieder who exited the zone, stormed up the ice and got pasted into the rounded glass by Weber on the back check.

The crowd erupted, and the cameras panned to Montreal’s bench where several Canadiens players stood awestruck by the sheer violence of the collision.

“My mouth dropped,” said Canadiens defenceman Nathan Beaulieu. “I’m not sure people realize how well Weber skates. Rieder’s a fast guy and he just gave him a couple of whacks and threw him right into the wall. It just got the guys going.”

Montreal’s Alexei Emelin opened the scoring a few minutes later with his first goal since March 17, 2015.

After Torrey Mitchell made it 2-0 Canadiens early in the second period, Weber brought the fans out of their seats at the 4:06 mark of the frame.

A pass was feathered over from Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov, and big No. 6 stepped in and crushed it by Domingue for his first goal as a member of the team.

It was the 167th goal of Weber’s career. It proved to be the game-winner, and he said afterwards that it was one he’ll never forget.

“You play in a place for so long and then you come somewhere new and score—it’s special,” said Weber. “It’s an awesome feeling to score, especially here at the Bell Centre.”

Weber went on to add an assist in the third period and finished the night with 10 shot attempts, three hits and four blocked shots in just over 25 minutes of ice-time.

Alex Galchenyuk scored Montreal’s fourth goal and chased Domingue from the game.

Arizona’s Jakob Chychrun scored the first of his career less than a minute later and teammate Laurent Dauphin made it 4-2 with a shorthanded goal in the 16th minute of the second period.

Canadiens forward Artturi Lehkonen—who was one of the Canadiens’ best players in the game—buried this one in the third period with the team’s fifth goal of the night.

Montreal got a tremendous performance out of Gallagher, who had nine shots and notched an assist. Defenceman Jeff Petry, forward Alexander Radulov, and fourth liners Mitchell, Brian Flynn and Philip Danault played big roles in helping the Canadiens out-shoot the Coyotes 43-29.

But it was Weber who deservedly took a victory lap around the ice after being voted the game’s first star.

Sure Weber was well-received when he was introduced to the crowd before Tuesday’s home-opening 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, but Thursday was his official welcoming party.

Weber came to Montreal from Nashville in a one-for-one trade that shocked the hockey world last June. Defenceman P.K. Subban, who was arguably the most beloved Canadien over the last six seasons, went the other way.

Replacing Subban would be an impossible task, and Weber said on the day he was acquired that he’d make no attempt at doing so. His focus was squarely on bringing what he’s become known for.

“It’s good to see him show the type of player he is and I think everybody’s really appreciating him now,” said Price. “He’s a big body, I’ve been saying it all along. Big shot, big character.”

Big presence. That’s how everyone in the game describes Weber.

“Man Mountain,” is what Team Canada coach Mike Babcock called him before the World Cup of hockey got underway. Weber lived up to the billing as the team’s No. 1 defenceman, helping them win the tournament by shutting down some of the game’s best players in Russia’s Alexander Ovechkin, USA’s Patrick Kane and Team Europe’s Marian Hossa.

Thursday night’s performance was but a glimpse of what he plans on doing for the Canadiens.

“I’m trying to chip in in all facets of the game,” said Weber.

He accomplished that mission in this one.