Canadiens aim to take advantage of sputtering Coyotes (Nov 16, 2017)
MONTREAL -- The Canadiens struggled mightily in the first few weeks of the 2017-18 season, but the club seems to have hit its stride as of late and is playing some solid hockey despite facing significant injury setbacks.
The same, however, can't be said for Montreal's next opponent, as the NHL's 31st-ranked team, the Arizona Coyotes, come to town on Thursday night.
"There's no easy games in this league," Canadiens head coach Claude Julien said after practice on Wednesday. "I know you hear that a million times, but it's the truth. We have to show some maturity tomorrow."
Montreal (8-9-2) is coming off a 2-1 overtime loss at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets, just its second setback in extra time this season. Winger Paul Byron scored his fourth goal of the season, getting his hand on a rebound off a shot by defenseman Shea Weber and tipping it up past Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game up late in the third period.
In the extra frame, sophomore blue-liner Zach Werenski took a nice drop feed from forward Cam Atkinson and made no mistake, taking a wrist shot that eluded Canadiens rookie goaltender Charlie Lindgren (3-1-1) for his fifth goal of the season.
Lindgren has been filling in as the team's replacement goaltender with both former Hart and Vezina Trophy winner Carey Price and Al Montoya sidelined with injuries. On Tuesday morning, the team's general manager Marc Bergevin announced that he had claimed veteran goaltender and Stanley Cup winner Antti Niemi off waivers from the Florida Panthers.
"For sure it's a tough market," Niemi told reporters on Wednesday, after arriving in Montreal. "Everybody's going to be watching you here, but I feel like you have to be honest to yourself in any place you play. You want to perform. It does not matter where."
Niemi, 34, began the season with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a backup to goaltender Matt Murray but, after going 0-3-0 and allowing 16 goals in those starts, he was waived and claimed by Florida. Once in the Sunshine State, he relieved goaltender James Reimer on a couple of occasions, allowing five goals on 39 shots.
The Canadiens are currently co-led in goals (seven) and points (12) by captain Max Pacioretty and winger Brendan Gallagher.
The Coyotes (2-15-3) are a team that has yet to find a true identity. They are a young team, mired in a five-game losing streak. Their last win came on Nov. 4, a 2-1 shootout victory versus the Carolina Hurricanes. Arizona has also struggled on the road, going 1-9-2 this season.
"We have to bear down and try to find something," Arizona forward Brandon Perlini told NHL.com. "But that's the game of hockey: Sometimes she goes in and sometimes she doesn't. We're not going to cry about it, I'm certainly not going to cry about it."
Rookie center Clayton Keller is a bright spot for the Coyotes, leading the team with 11 goals and 17 points through 20 games.
Arizona's goaltending had been primarily split between Louis Domingue and Antti Raanta before the former was traded on Tuesday, along with forward Tye McGinn, to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for journeyman goaltender Michael Leighton. The Coyotes will be Leighton's ninth NHL organization since he was drafted in the sixth round of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks.
Montreal will be without the services of Price (lower body), Montoya (concussion), forward Ales Hemsky (concussion-like symptoms), forward Nikita Scherbak (lower body), David Schlemko (hand), forward Torrey Mitchell (illness -- game time decision) and forward Artturi Lekhonen (lower body) on Thursday night. Pacioretty took a therapy day on Wednesday and did not practice. He should be in the lineup against Arizona.
The Coyotes will be without defensemen Jakob Chychrun (knee surgery) and Niklas Hjalmarsson (upper body).
