LAVAL, Que. - Topping last season's performance will be a challenge for Carey Price, but the Montreal Canadiens goaltender believes he can do it.

"Yup, I have to keep focused on the process," Price said this week at the team's charity golf tournament. "I can't focus on the end goal.

"Obviously we wanted to win it all last year and ultimately that's what we're working towards, but it's basically trying to focus on what it takes to get there."

In 2014-'15, Price won everything except the trophy he wants most, the Stanley Cup.

The 28-year-old became the first player to take the following four honours in the same season: the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player, the Lindsay award as MVP as voted by his fellow players, the Vezina Trophy as top goaltender and the Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals in the regular season.

He shared the Jennings with Chicago's Cory Crawford, each with 189 goals conceded.

Tough to beat that, but Price wants to give it a go.

"I think everybody wants to try to be the best," he said. "It was definitely rewarding and something that when I'm done playing I will reflect on but I'd like to try and do it again and try to win more things. That's just the nature of being an athlete."

His 1.96 goals-against average and .933 save percentage, both career bests, in 66 games helped Montreal finish second overall with 110 points, three fewer than the New York Rangers.

The Canadiens reached the second round of the playoffs, where they fell in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning. There is a feeling among players and management that they have become a contender, but they don't want to get ahead of themselves.

First they need to make the playoffs, which is not a gimme for any team in today's NHL. Ask the 2014 Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings, who fell just short last season. Or the Boston Bruins, who didn't make it despite a 96-point campaign.

"Ultimately, you want to improve every season but we're not focusing on trying to top last year," said Price. "We have to kind of dumb it down a bit and try to focus on what it'll take to get there.

"What we did last year was just kind of make really, really short-term goals and focus on what was on the plate right in front of us. I think we have to take that same mindset."

Montreal players have said they'd like to produce more goals this season to be less reliant on Price to bail them out and win them games. But the six-foot-three goaltender says it is no time to make drastic changes to a successful system.

"For me personally, we play very well-structured hockey," he said. "As a goaltender, you like to see that.

"We're playing very well defensively. There are things that are a tradeoff. We just need to find a happy medium."