Coyotes Game 30 Recap: Canadiens beat Coyotes 3-2 in overtime

The Arizona Coyotes dropped their second game in a row, falling in a close one to the Montréal Canadiens.

Game Recap

After coming back twice, the Arizona Coyotes fell 3-2 in overtime against the Montréal Canadiens. It was a closer matchup than the first time they met, but not close enough for the Desert Dogs.

The Coyotes came out ready to play and had a solid first period against the Canadiens. The two power plays undoubtedly helped, but the first 20 minutes ended with the Coyotes outshooting the Canadiens 17-5.

Unfortunately, we have seen the problems that can happen when the Coyotes are playing well but can’t convert, and it happened again last night.

After a period of being thoroughly outshot, the Canadiens got on the board less than a minute into the second, with Cole Caufield getting his 19th of the season.

Thankfully, the Coyotes responded well, with Nick Schmaltz getting his fifth of the season 35 seconds later.

Clayton Keller brought the Canadiens’ defenders down with him, opening up Schmaltz in the middle of the ice. One release later, and the puck was behind Sam Montembeault and in the back of the net.

Those two goals broke the seal, and after 20 minutes of no goals, we had four in the first seven and half minutes of the second.

Former-Coyote Christian Dvorak regained the lead at the four-and-a-half-minute mark when he re-directed Arber Xhekaj’s shot from the point to give Montréal a 2-1 lead. But three minutes after that, Matias Maccelli tied the game back up with his third of the season from Lawson Crouse and Jakob Chychrun.

Matias Maccelli needs to get more credit for his rookie season. He has 22 points in 28 games, and he still doesn’t have a picture on the NHL websites.

After four goals to start the second, the scoring dried up. Neither team scored in the rest of the second period or the third.

Despite being outshot from the beginning, the Canadiens had been building momentum all game. They went from being outshot 17-5 in the first to 16-12 in the second before finally outshooting the Coyotes 7-6 in the third. And they didn’t have any problems carrying that over into overtime.

The Coyotes won the opening faceoff in overtime, but they turned over the puck giving Montréal possession. Then, 68 seconds into the OT, Mike Hoffman gave the Canadiens the game-winner, his seventh of the season.

Arizona was definitely a more disciplined team than we are used to seeing. They only took two penalties, and they killed them both off. It’s a shame they couldn’t convert on one of their two power plays, but the Canadiens won the tank matchup.

Lines

Three Stars

1. Sam Montembeault – 37 saves on 39 shots
2. Mike Hoffman – Game-winning goal
3. Matias Maccelli – Goal

Next Game

The Coyotes are back on the road to face off against the Vegas Golden Knights this Wednesday at 8:00 pm.