Montreal 2, Arizona 1
When: 7:30 PM ET, Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Where: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
Referees:
Chris Rooney, Justin St. Pierre
Linesmen:
Devin Berg, Greg Devorski
Attendance:
21002
By Field Level Media
Carey Price continued his mastery of the Arizona Coyotes, stopping 30 shots to lead the host Montreal Canadiens to a 2-1 victory Wednesday night.
Price improved to 11-1-0 with a 1.91 goals-against average in 12 career starts against the Coyotes. He got a little help when a late Arizona goal was nullified on a video review because the Coyotes were offside when they entered the offensive zone.
Mike Reilly and Jonathan Drouin scored for the Canadiens, who have won five of their past six games. Montreal moved past idle Boston and into third place in the Atlantic Division heading into the All-Star break.
Conor Garland scored for the Coyotes, who were 6-1-1 in their previous eight games. Arizona was thwarted in its bid to sweep its three-game eastern Canada trip after beating Toronto on Sunday and Ottawa on Tuesday.
Goaltender Calvin Pickard, making his debut for the Coyotes after being claimed off waivers from Philadelphia on Nov. 28, stopped 22 of 24 shots.
Reilly scored the winner at 4:48 of the third period. Fellow defenseman Jeff Petry drove the puck down the right wing, behind the Arizona net and into the left corner, where he fed Reilly at the point. Reilly's shot snaked through a maze of bodies out front and just inside the left post.
It appeared Alex Galchenyuk, making his return to Montreal after being acquired by the Coyotes in an offseason trade, tied the score with 3:39 left. However, Canadiens coach Claude Julien challenged the call, and a review wiped out the goal.
Montreal, which entered the game with a league-worst 12.6 percent conversion rate on the power play, opened the scoring on Drouin's man-advantage goal at 9:29 of the first period, assisted by Tomas Tatar.
The Coyotes tied it on a power-play goal of their own, by Garland at 18:28 of the second off nifty passes from Nick Cousins and Clayton Keller.
Arizona played without defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who sustained a knee injury against the Senators.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Arizona |
|
Montreal |
Conor Garland 1 |
Points |
Jonathan Drouin 1 |
Conor Garland 1 |
Goals |
Jonathan Drouin 1 |
Nick Cousins 1 |
Assists |
Charles Hudon 1 |
Conor Garland 1 |
Power Play Goals |
Jonathan Drouin 1 |
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
Calvin Pickard .917 |
Save Percentage |
Carey Price .968 |
Calvin Pickard 22 |
Saves |
Carey Price 30 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Arizona
|
31 |
1 |
1-3 |
1-2 |
4 |
27 |
Montreal
|
24 |
2 |
1-2 |
2-3 |
6 |
20 |
Upcoming Games
-
Montreal will play their next game at home against New Jersey. The Canadiens have a W/L % of .444 after a win and .667 after a loss.
-
Arizona will play their next game on the road against San Jose. The Coyotes have a W/L % of .458 after a win and .462 after a loss.