Coyotes win sixth in their last seven, 6-3, over Montreal

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Wait, what?

You read that correctly, the Arizona Coyotes win for the sixth time in seven games in a 6-3 win over the Canadiens in Montreal on Tuesday night.“I’m pleased with our guys’ effort,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “The guys battled tonight. It’s been a long trip. This is our second game in as many nights, our fifth game of the trip, we’ve been gone 10 days so it’s time to go home and recover a bit.”

Karel Vejmelka made 36 saves for the Arizona win.

Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse hit for a goal each in the win for the Coyotes.

Arizona improved to 20-36-4.

The Coyotes scored four times in the opening frame.1

“We really opened the door there and that was unfortunate, but I think we rebounded pretty well in the third,” the Coyotes’ Anton Stralman said. “We knew they were going to put a lot of pressure on and had the momentum of the game at that point. (Vejmelka) made some keys [saves] in the right times to keep us in early on. … I think we dropped a lot of games like that throughout the season, and tonight, except from a few shifts here and there, we had pretty good control.

Cole Caufield hit for a double in the Montreal loss.

Barrett Hayton  and Anton Stralman staked the Coyotes to a 2-0 lead.

Laurent Dauphin scored a single marker for the Habs in the first period.

Nick Ritchie and Crouse pushed the lead to 4-1 before the end of the stanza.

Clayton Keller made it 5-1 for Arizona before the Habs potted two goals to make 5-3 heading to the third period.

Nick Schmaltz hit an empty-net goal in the 16th minute of the third period for the 6-3 final.

Montreal’s Ben Chiarot. was held out of the game, called a “management’s decision.” by Habs coach Martin St Louis

“It was a bit sad to see him left aside but that’s life, that’s hockey,” Montreal’s Paul Byron said. “We tried our best to win without him tonight.”

“I think we’ve played well the past three games,” St. Louis said. “We deserved better tonight.”

Sam Montembeault got the start for Montreal and surrendered four goals on just seven shots before getting the hook in the first intermission.

Cayden Primeau made 10 saves in a mop up role.