MONTREAL (AP) Sam Montembeault made 36 saves to help the Montreal Canadiens snap their five-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.
āThey had a lot of shots but even with that weāve got some guys like (Mike) Matheson and (Johnathan) Kovacevic, they blocked a lot of shots, too,ā said Montembeault.
āTheyāve got a lot of small shifty players that can move the puck in the offensive zone and Iām happy that we contained them to just two goals and got the win,ā he said.
Joel Armia, Jordan Harris, Tanner Pearson and Nick Suzuki, with an empty-net goal, scored for Montreal.
Harris put the Canadiens ahead 2-0 with his second of the season at 4:52 of the second period.
āIt was a big goal for us there in the second period,ā Montembeault said of Harrisās goal. āHe doesnāt get too many chances to go on a 2-on-1 like this but he took his chance and it was a great shot.ā
Harris later set up Pearson to give Montreal a 3-1 edge 5:14 into the third period.
āI forgot who was on the boards but they were kind of tied up and I saw Tanner cutting through the middle,ā said Harris. āHe made a great play, kind of turned on the jets there going around him and then I couldnāt really see great from the bench because I was changing there so Iād have to see the replay to see how it went in.ā
Alex Kerfoot and Nick Bjugstad scored for Arizona, while Connor Ingram stopped 17 shots.
The Coyotes outshot the Canadiens 38-21.
āWe had emotion, we had passion, there was a good feeling on the bench,ā said coach AndrĆ© Tourigny. āWe had 77% of the scoring chances, a lot of quality shots but their goaltender stand tall.
āWe could have had a little more traffic in front of him and we didnāt reload properly on their goals. It wasnāt a perfect game but overall I donāt want to find excuses.ā
Tourigny said his team played a disciplined game but credited Montembeault for shutting the door on all three of the Coyotesā power plays.
āOur power play had some good looks,ā said Tourigny. ā(Nick Schmaltz) had some chances from the slot but I think the goalie made his biggest saves when we were on the power play.ā
UP NEXT
Coyotes: Continue a five-game road trip at Toronto on Thursday.
Canadiens: Kick off a four-game road trip against the Panthers on Thursday.
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