HABS PARCHED FOR POINTS ON ROAD
Fourth straight loss for struggling Canadiens lineup
The Arizona Coyotes have the worst record in the NHL, but they have a couple of youngsters who give the few thousand diehard fans in the desert a reason to be optimistic about the future. Clayton Keller, a 19-year-old rookie out of Boston University, had a goal and three assists and 21-year-old Brendan Perlini scored two goals to lead the Arizona Coyotes to a 5-2 win over the Canadiens Thursday at Gila River Arena. The loss ran the Canadiens’ current winless streak to four games (0-3-1).
Too little too late: The Canadiens provided the large number of snowbirds in the sparse crowd of 11,489 with reason to cheer as they closed to within a goal in the third period. Brendan Gallagher spoiled Antti Raanta’s shutout bid when he scored his team-leading 21st goal on a power play at 5:46 and Daniel Carr celebrated his return to the lineup with his fourth goal at 7:38. But any chance of a comeback was snuffed out when Tobias Rieder scored a power-play goal at 10:46. The Coyotes went 2-for-2 on the power play and Max Pacioretty was in the box for both goals. Josh Archibald completed the rout at 16:01. Keller puts Coyotes on the board:
Arizona took a 1-0 lead when Keller scored a power-play goal at 13:56 of the first period. There was one second remaining in a boarding penalty to Pacioretty when Keller beat Carey Price with a shot from the point. It was the 17th goal of the season for Keller, who hit a post earlier in the power play. Oliver Ekman-Larsson set up Keller using teammate Brad Richardson’s stick after he broke his own.
Not again: Perlini gave the Coyotes a 3-0 lead when he scored two goals in a span of 20 seconds early in the second. Perlini was set up by Keller in the high slot and beat Price at the 57-second mark. He scored his 16th of the season at 1:16 when he got a step on defenceman Karl Alzner after taking a pass up the middle from Ekman-Larsson. The two-goal outburst marked the 14th time this season the Canadiens have given up two goals in less than a minute.
No support for Price: The Canadiens’ goaltender has lost eight consecutive road games, but he hasn’t received much support from teammates. The Canadiens have scored only nine goals in those games. With the loss in Arizona, the Canadiens have a road record of 8-28-1, worst in the NHL. Danault remains on sidelines:
There has been no indication when or if Phillip Danault will play on this trip. Danault, who has been out of the lineup since he was hit in the head by a Zdeno Chara slapshot on Jan. 13, missed his 14th consecutive game.
On to Vegas: The Canadiens get a day off in Las Vegas Friday and their first look at T-Mobile Arena when they play the Golden Knights Saturday (7 p.m., Sportsnet 360, CITYTV, TVA Sports, TSN-600 Radio). The Canadiens wrap up their road trip Tuesday in Philadelphia.