Brendan Gallagher tallied a goal and an assist while Sean Monahan scored his team-leading sixth goal for the Montreal Canadiens vs the Arizona Coyotes.

GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens vs Arizona Coyotes

Canadiens Lineup

Forwards

22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard
20 Juraj Slafkovsky - 15 Alex Newhook - 17 Josh Anderson
70 Tanner Pearson - 91 Sean Monahan - 11 Brendan Gallagher
56 Jesse Ylonen - 71 Jake Evans - 40 Joel Armia

Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic
21 Kaiden Guhle - 52 Justin Barron
72 Arber Xhekaj - 54 Jordan Harris

Goaltenders

Starter: 34 Jake Allen
Alternate: 35 Sam Montembeault

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Cayden Primeau, Gustav Lindstrom, Michael Pezzetta

Injuries: Christian Dvorak (knee), Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), David Savard (hand)

Game Report

After the Canadiens played their best game of the Marty St. Louis tenure (according the the head coach) earlier in the week, the visitors delivered a dud against the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes were on the second night of a back-to-back having played in Anaheim on Wednesday. Yet it was the Canadiens who looked sluggish at times.

Coyotes forward Nick Schmaltz opened the scoring with a penalty shot goal. Sean Monahan responded less than a minute later scoring his sixth goal of the season to tie the game in the first period.

The second period was controlled by the Coyotes. Lawson Crouse put Arizona ahead with less than a minute remaining in the middle frame. 

Montreal and Arizona traded power play goals in the third period. And the Coyotes walked away with a 3-2 win.

Raphael Harvey-Pinard did not finish the game after falling awkwardly into boards. The Canadiens announced that Harvey-Pinard had suffered a lower body injury. Jesse Ylonen, Josh Anderson and Joel Armia each got a turn playing on the top line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

Jake Allen delivered another strong performance making 33 stops. It was the first loss  this season for Allen in regulation time.

Game Statistics

Canadiens (5-3-2)
Shots: 30
Face-off %: 63.5
Power play: 1/5
Penalty minutes: 8
Hits: 19
Blocks: 24

Coyotes (5-4-1)
Shots: 36
Face-off %: 36.5
Power play: 1/4
Penalty minutes: 10
Hits: 19
Blocks: 10

Scoring Summary

Canadiens Scorers
1st period: Monahan (6)
2nd period: --
3rd period: Gallagher (3)
OT: --
SO: --

Coyotes Scorers
1st period: Schmaltz (3)-PS
2nd period: Crouse (3)
3rd period: Schmaltz (4)-PPG
OT: --
SO: --

Goaltenders
MTL: Allen (L) 3-1-1
ARI: Ingram (W) 3-1-0

Canadiens Players of the Game

Brendan Gallagher - Gallagher had a goal and an assist. The third line was the most effective again in this game.

Tanner Pearson - Pearson assisted on Gallagher's goal and provided the screen for Sean Monahan's sixth goal.

Jake Allen - Allen made 33 saves earning a .914 save percentage for the game.

Video Highlights

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0pMI98RKns[/embed]

Post-game Quotes

Marty St. Louis

“It was the opposite of the last game. We didn't play a good match. We weren't there."

Nick Suzuki

"We had a few late penalties."

Game Preview

Canadiens Need Second Line to Come Alive | PREVIEW: MTL @ ARI

Up Next

The Canadiens continue their three-game road trip on Saturday in St. Louis, MO. Puck drop for the match against the Blues is 7 pm. eastern time.

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