Habs goaltender Carey Price makes a save off Coyotes centre Steven Reinprecht during the first period Saturday night at the Bell Centre. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)

The Montreal Canadiens showed Saturday night they won't be pushed around this year.

That much was clear at the Bell Centre as the Canadiens manhandled the Phoenix Coyotes.

Captain Saku Koivu notched a goal and a pair of assists, pacing the Canadiens to a dominating 4-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes at the Bell Centre.

Forward Alex Tanguay added two goals for the Canadiens and centre Robert Lang chipped in with a power-play marker.

Canadiens goaltender Carey Price continued his strong start to the season, making 28 saves against the Coyotes. Montreal (4-0-1) won its fourth game in a row since a disappointing season-opening shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

The Canadiens began the game strong and were further motivated when a hit on Andrei Kostitsyn early in the second period knocked the talented winger out of the game and perhaps for an extended period of time.

"Whether it was [a] cheap hit or not, when one of your best players gets knocked out like that, you're not going to say it's OK — you want to respond to it," said Montreal enforcer Georges Laraque.

Tanguay got Montreal off to a fast start with his second goal of the season at 6:11 of the first.

Standing in the slot, Tanguay took a nifty Koivu backhand pass and one-timed a shot over the glove of Coyotes goaltender Ilja Bryzgalov.

Koivu put the Canadiens up 2-0 more than five minutes later after the Canadiens won the draw. Defenceman Andrei Markov fired a pass to Koivu, who controlled the puck at the side of the net and lifted a drive by a sprawled Bryzgalov.

The fireworks began in the second as Coyotes defenceman Kurt Sauer slammed Kostitsyn's head into the glass. Kostitsyn laid motionless on the ice for several minutes and was visibly dazed when he was taken to the team's dressing room sporting a shiner.

Shaken at the sight of his brother being helped off the ice by the team's training staff, Sergei Kostitsyn was receiving some words of encouragement by Koivu on the Montreal bench.

"He was obviously upset and frustrated," Koivu told Hockey Night In Canada. "I told him it was going to be OK and he needs to get his focus back."

Still seething that Sauer wasn't assessed a penalty, the Canadiens decided to take matters into their own hands. Montreal winger Tom Kostopoulos exchanged blows with Sauer at 11:50.

"Obviously, he's not going to go with me — he's not a heavyweight," Laraque said of Sauer, who has had 10 career fights to Laraque's 120. "I had to leave a message, but that's why a guy like Kostopoulos, who is more his size, responded.

"I can't jump on a guy and start pounding him and get five or 10 games [suspension]. The league has punishment for hits to the head. I can only do so much. I don't want to get the team in trouble."

Laraque and Phoenix's rugged captain, Shane Doan, both received unsportsmanlike conduct penalties less than two minutes later.

Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said Kostitsyn appeared to be feeling a bit better following the game, but will need tests in the next few days to see if there are lingering effects from the hit.

"He came over the line and started to lay up and a bit and I just hit him," said Sauer.

The hit on Kostitsyn didn't dampen the spirits of the Canadiens as Tanguay and Koivu hooked up once again on a terrific give-and-go at 12:56.

Tanguay converted a return pass from Koivu to the left of Bryzgalov and buried a high drive into the open side of the net, handing the Canadiens a commanding 3-0 lead.

Montreal scored its fourth goal from an unexpected source with 56 seconds left on a power play. Coyotes centre Daniel Winnik inadvertently flipped a pass to Montreal's Robert Lang, who beat Bryzgalov with a quick shot for his third goal of the season.

Laraque then tussled with forward Todd Fedoruk in the dying moments of the second.

Doan spoiled Price's chance for his first shutout of the season with a goal midway through the third.

The Canadiens played without the services of forward Chris Higgins. The winger has yet to appear in a game this year due to a groin injury and Carbonneau said earlier Saturday that the forward and defenceman Francis Bouillon still need to be cleared by team doctors.

With files from the Canadian Press