The Montreal Canadiens began their three-game road trip with a win in Arizona against the Coyotes. Claude Julien’s guys have been better than the hosts with 4-1, posting their 6th win of the season.
Guests from Montreal used the fact that the Coyotes had a rough week, during which they played four games on the road, mainly on the East Coast. It is why they arrived in Glendale one day before the match, to have the time to prepare for this contest.
“We wanted to have a good start. They had a long travel day, so you’re trying to jump on them,” explained the Canadiens goalie Carey Price.
Price was had an excellent night, stopping Coyotes’ 33 shots. At certain parts of the contest, it was his fantastic reactions that rescued the Canadiens from difficult situations.
Also, the guests couldn’t open the match better than they did last night. They’ve scored the first goal after just 22 seconds. Brendan Gallagher played his 500th match in the NHL and marked it properly.
That was the only score in the opening frame, but it completely changed the course of the event. The exact same scenario had been seen in the next sequence, only this time it was Shea Weber who beat Antti Raanta some 24 seconds following the start.
These two goals have been devastating for the hosts’ morale, and after a long and exhausting tour through the Eastern Conference, they couldn’t recover from them. And even if they could, Price was there to slow them down and keep the momentum on Canadiens’ side.
“Start of the first period, (the Canadiens score) seconds in; start of the second period, (they score) seconds in,” Coyotes coach Rich Tocchet said. “They’re killers. You can’t give freebie (goals) up to Carey Price. He’s too good of a goalie.”
Nick Cousins raised the result at 3-0 for the guests. Cousins was playing for the Coyotes in the previous two seasons, appearing in 152 games and posting 36 points, 19 goals and 27 assists.
Jakob Chychrun finally brought some positiveness among the home team’s fans when he netted the first goal of the night for Arizona. He admitted that beating Price this Wednesday night was one hell of a task.
“He’s obviously one of the best in the League, and you need to play a good game against him,” he said.
Jonathan Drouin sealed the match at 11:03 in the last frame, after putting the puck in the net from the crease. This was his third goal in the previous two games.
The Canadiens (6-4-2) have two straight wins now. Yet, they need to play two very tough games in the next few days. The first one is in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights, already tonight, while Dallas Stars await them on Friday. It is going to be a pretty exhausting period for the guys from Montreal.
On the other side, the Coyotes (7-4-1) face the Avalanche on Saturday, and after that have to get back on the road again. First, to meet the Oilers in Edmonton on Monday, then Flames in Calgary on the day after.
