Coyotes at Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are surging back into the Eastern Conference playoff chase with nine wins in their last 12 games and look to keep it going when the struggling Arizona Coyotes pay a visit Monday night. The Canadiens are six points out of the second wild-card spot in the East after winning for the third straight time in an extra session Saturday with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Toronto.
Montreal, which plays five of six games on the road after going for a fourth straight win in the series against the Coyotes, received the tying goal from defenseman Marco Scandella with 2:33 left Saturday before Ilya Kovalchuk scored 1:43 into overtime. “I think right now, of course we’ve got to rely on ourselves, but we’ve got to be aware of what’s going on around the league because every game, every team, it’s so close right now,” Kovalchuk told reporters. “And we just believe in ourselves. We battled through some injuries, some flu and everything, and I think it’s just going to make us stronger.” Arizona entered Sunday in a virtual tie for the second wild-card position in the Western Conference despite winning just twice in the last 12 games (2-7-3), following a 4-2 loss at Boston on Saturday afternoon to open a four-game trip. “We had some good stretches today, but I don’t think enough,” Coyotes veteran forward Phil Kessel told reporters. “We’ve got to get some wins here.”
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: FS Arizona Plus, TSN2, RDS
ABOUT THE COYOTES (27-23-7): Goalie Darcy Kuemper (15-8-2, .929 save percentage), out since Dec. 19 with a lower-body injury, was expected to practice Sunday and could possibly be ready to return to the lineup as soon as Monday. Adin Hill turned aside 29 shots in Saturday’s loss, replacing veteran Antti Raanta (10-12-3, .915) after he was a late scratch due to a lower-body injury. Kessel snapped a five-game point drought with his 12th goal, defenseman Jakob Chychrun boosted his career high to 11 tallies on Saturday and 21-year-old forward Clayton Keller had an assist to move within one of 100 for his career.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (27-23-7): Kovalchuk boasts a plus-6 rating after scoring for the sixth time and recording his 12th point in 15 games since being signed as a free agent with his 17th career overtime tally Saturday. Jonathan Drouin had one shot and three hits in 11 minutes, 49 seconds of ice time Saturday as he returned to the lineup after missing 37 games with a wrist injury, and Montreal is 12-5-3 with him the lineup as opposed to 15-18-4 without the 24-year-old left wing. Carey Price (14-18-4, .913 SP) has won four of his last five outings, registering a .946 SP in that span, and is 12-1-0 lifetime versus the Coyotes.
OVERTIME
1. Kessel moved past Andrew Cogliano for the sixth-longest consecutive game streak in NHL history with his 831st on Saturday.
2. Montreal LW Tomas Tatar leads the team with 20 goals and 51 points - 12 in his last 10 contests.
3. Arizona captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson (six goals, 22 points) has missed the last four games with a lower-body injury and is day-to-day.