The Coyotes offense continues to struggle in loss to the Montreal Canadiens
The Arizona Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens wait for the national anthems to be sung.
December 20, 2018
The Coyotes found themselves unable to score more than one goal for the second game in a row. In their last 10 games, the Coyotes are 3-7-0 with their last regulation win coming Dec. 4 against the Los Angeles Kings.
The Coyotes were able to get a few quality shots on Carey Price, goaltender of the Canadiens, but was not able to get anything past the award-winning goaltender Carey Price.
The first period, both teams were feeling each other out, as they haven’t played each other since last season. The Coyotes started out down in the shot count, but by the end of the period were outshooting the Canadiens 14 to 12.
The Canadiens started the period on the power play and it only took 22 seconds for them to score. Canadiens captain Shea Weber scored on a pass from Jeff Petry right off the face-off in the Coyotes Zone. Weber’s slapshot, one of the hardest in the league, beat Coyotes goaltender Darcy Kuemper clean.
Six minutes later the Coyotes found themselves on the power play. Off the face-off, Jakob Chychrun, from his stomach, was able to poke the puck to Nick Schmaltz and off to Oliver Ekman-Larsson whose wrist shot beat Price tying the game up at 1-1.
At the beginning of the third period, the Canadiens were starting to pull away with the chances. After the Coyotes failed to the clear the defensive zone, Kuemper’s stick became caught in the skates of Canadiens forward Andrew Shaw, allowing Paul Byron to score at 1:16 with assists from Phillip Danault and Shaw putting the Canadiens up 2-1.
The Coyotes pressed for the game-tying goal, finding themselves on the power play twice during that time but not being able to convert.
Carey Price with this win has 300 career wins, only the second Canadiens goaltender (the first being Jacques Plante) to reach that record.
“I thought tonight we managed the puck,” said Head Coach Rick Tocchet after the game. “(In previous games) in the second period, we were giving goals away and I thought tonight we defended well and played the right way most of the game. I think the guys tried tonight.”
