MONTREAL (AP) — Top draft pick Juraj Slafkovsky scored his first NHL goal and the Montreal Canadiens had a three-goal first period in a 6-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.
Josh Anderson, Cole Caufield and Brendan Gallagher gave Montreal the early cushion. Nick Suzuki scored on a penalty shot, Sean Monahan added an empty-netter and Jake Allen made 25 saves.
The Canadiens (3-2-0) improved to 3-0 at home.
J.J. Moser and Travis Boyd scored for Arizona, and Lawson Crouse added two assists. Connor Ingram stopped 24 shots in his first start with the Coyotes (1-3-0). They have two games left on an opening six-game trip.
Slafkovsky scored at 8:17 of the second period when he intercepted the puck and beat Ingram with a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle.
Suzuki was given a penalty shot when he was tripped by Juuso Valimaki while Montreal was short-handed. The captain took all the space he needed, then lobbed the puck over Ingram to make it 5-0 late in the second period.
UP NEXT
Coyotes: At Ottawa on Saturday.
Canadiens: Host Dallas on Saturday night.
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