Coyotes at Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens can match their season-high winning streak of six games when they host the struggling Arizona Coyotes in a Sunday matinee. The Canadiens come in off consecutive 1-0 victories, including Saturday afternoon’s overtime triumph against Washington, and have surrendered three goals in their last four contests. All-Star Carey Price was in net for the last four wins, but he could give way to Dustin Tokarski in the second contest of back-to-back games for both teams.
The Coyotes have managed just one victory in their last nine games and stand 1-3-2 on their eight-game road trip as they look for their first win in Montreal since Oct, 28, 1996. Arizona snapped a seven-game winless streak with a 3-1 victory at Toronto on Thursday before allowing four goals in the third period of a 7-2 loss at Ottawa two nights later. The Coyotes are among the league’s lowest-scoring teams while the Canadiens lead the NHL in scoring defense.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, CITY, RDS (Montreal)
ABOUT THE COYOYES (17-26-6): Sam Gagner notched a goal for the second straight game Saturday and has produced four points in his last four contests. Defenseman Keith Yandle (32 points) and center Antoine Vermette (31), both rumored to be trade targets, lead the team in scoring while All-Star Oliver Ekman-Larsson tops all blue-liners in the league with 13 goals. Mike Smith, coming off his first victory in seven decisions Thursday, allowed five goals before being relieved by Louis Domingue on Saturday.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (32-13-3): Max Pacioretty has scored the only goal in each of Montreal's last two games and leads the team with 23 tallies, 40 points and a plus-24 rating. Tomas Plekanec, who set up Pacioretty’s winner Saturday, is tied with defenseman P.K. Subban for second on the team in points with 33 and Alex Galchenyuk is next with 32. The Canadiens were scoreless on the power play the last two games but were 8-for-23 in their previous five contests.
OVERTIME
1. The Canadiens are tied for the most wins (eight) in the league when trailing after one period and are 7-1-1 with a lead after 20 minutes.
2. Arizona C Martin Hanzal, who has 24 points in 37 games, missed Saturday’s contest with an upper-body injury and is questionable for Sunday.
3. Montreal C Manny Malhotra has registered just one point (an assist) in 45 games this season but leads the league in faceoff percentage (60.8).