MONTREAL – Martin Hanzal and Shane Doan scored in the first period and the Arizona Coyotes held on for a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson also scored for the Coyotes (10-8-1), who ended a two-game losing run.
Max Pacioretty and Dale Weise, who scored with 51 seconds left in the game, replied for the Canadiens (14-4-2), who are without a regulation time win in the last four games (1-2-1) and have surrendered 16 goals in that time. Montreal outshot Arizona 33-20.
Arizona scored three times on its first six shots on Mike Condon and Montreal fell behind by 3-0 for a third game in a row. But while the Canadiens were able to come back for a 4-3 overtime win over Vancouver in their last outing, the Coyotes and goalie Mike Smith held off a late charge this time.
The Canadiens gave up an early goal for a fifth straight game when Montreal native Anthony Duclair used a burst of speed to set up Hanzal for a goal into an open side at 5:04.
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A puck hopped over Brendan Gallagher’s stick and Tobias Rieder was able to whip a shot off Condon’s shoulder that fell to Doan for a tap-in goal at 9:17.
Ekman-Larsson, with a point in a seventh straight game, cruised into the slot to collect a loose puck and beat Condon with a high wrist shot on a power play 3:51 into the second frame.
Pacioretty got one back as a Gallagher pass went off a skate and the Canadiens captain was able to backhand it inside the right post at 16:59.
Weise deflected an Andrei Markov shot in at 19:09 with Condon pulled for an extra attacker.
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Condon made a ninth start since Carey Price suffered a lower body injury and may be back in goal when the Canadiens play the Islanders in New York on Friday night. Price has resumed practising but it is uncertain when he will be able to play.
Arizona lost the first two games of its four-game road trip by 5-2 scores. The trip ends Saturday in Winnipeg.
The Canadiens put Paul Byron into the lineup and scratched right winger Alexander Semin.
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