'Yotes Notes: Keller Notches Four Points in Win over Canadiens

GLENDALE --Clayton Keller, the NHL's Rookie of the Month back in October, is getting his second wind.
"He had a spell there where he was tired," Head Coach Rick Tocchet said after Arizona's 5-2 win over Montreal at Gila River Arena on Thursday night. "As a kid you're trying to figure yourself out in the NHL, and I think in the last seven games he's back to the Clayton of the first couple months."

Keller notched a career-high four points - a power-play goal and three assists - in the win over Montreal, Arizona's third in four nights. His nifty, cross-ice pass to set up a power-play goal by Tobias Rieder at 10:46 of the third period changed the momentum of the game.
Only three rookies in Coyotes history have produced four points in one game: Martin Hanzal, Kyle Turris and now Keller.
"It's cool," Keller said. "Obviously our power play was clicking tonight. More importantly, we got the win and that's all that matters."
Keller has produced eight points in the past five games after notching just four over a 12-game stretch. He said scoring slumps are nothing new to him. Staying positive and confident and working hard in practice, he said, are keys to riding them out.
"Every year I've played hockey, you go through that and you've just got to stick with it," Keller said. "It takes a game or two and you're right back."

• Antti Raanta is known as one of the nicer goalies in the NHL. But after Daniel Carr scored a goal at 7:38 of the third period to pull Montreal to within 3-2, Raanta showed his teammates, who had lowered their intensity with a 3-0 lead, a different side of his personality during a break in the action.
"I got a little bit hot," said Raanta, who made 34 stops, including an amazing glove save on Nikita Scherbak at 5:02 of the first period. "They pretty much laughed at it."
Tocchet disagreed and said Raanta's rant keyed the team's resurgence in the third period. The Coyotes responded by scoring twice.
"Hopefully I don't need to do that anymore," Raanta said with a smile. "It's great to get the win, but also learn from those mistakes."
Regarding his highlight-reel glove save on Scherbak's shot, Raanta, who upped his record to 4-0-0 vs. the Canadiens, said: "When you feel good, sometimes you can make that kind of save ... It was pretty much a desperation play. There was nothing else to do there, so I just tried to get something in front and (was) lucky enough it hit into my glove."

• Brendan Perlini scored his 15th and 16th goals of the season just 19 seconds apart in the second period to extend Arizona's lead from 1-0 to 3-0.
The franchise record for the two quickest goals scored by the same player is four seconds, set by Deron Quint in 1995-96, the team's last season in Winnipeg before moving to Arizona.
"That quick-strike ability is something we've been striving for all year," Tocchet said. "These kids, we're going to keep putting them out there to grow these guys. Like I've said, (Perlini) has a chance to be a hell of a hockey player. He's got a hell of a shot. Getting those two goals in 19 seconds was huge for us."

• Oliver Ekman-Larsson notched a career-high three assists, including the primary helper on Keller's power-play goal at 13:56 of the first period. Ekman-Larsson set up the goal using Brad Richardson's stick, a desperation replacement from the bench after he lost his earlier in the power play. Worth noting, Richardson's stick is about eight inches shorter than Ekman-Larsson's; Tocchet jokingly called it a "mini-stick."
"My back is a little bit sore from that," Ekman-Larsson quipped. "I just grabbed a stick and it felt pretty good since we scored after that. It was a different brand and curve, and a little bit shorter, too. It worked out pretty good."
• With the win, Arizona improved to 7-5-5 in its past 17 games and set a positive tone for a season-long seven-game homestand.
"I think the main thing over the course of the year is never get too high and never get too low," Perlini said. "For us, we're just taking it each day as it comes ... The last few games have been good for us, but we have a lot to learn and a lot to prove."
• Alex Goligoski blocked a game-high eight shots.
• Zac Rinaldo delivered a game-high nine hits in 13:33 of ice time.