Coyotes defeat Canadiens on late power-play goal by Chychrun

MONTREAL -- Jakob Chychrun scored a power-play goal with 1:00 remaining in the third period for the Arizona Coyotes in a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Monday.

Chychrun scored on a slap shot from the point to complete Arizona's comeback from two goals down 1:52 into the first period.
"We had a tough start," Chychrun said. "But we stuck together, hung in there, and we ended up having a pretty good game."
WATCH: [All Coyotes vs. Canadiens highlights]
Derek Stepan and Taylor Hall scored, and Antti Raanta made 26 saves for the Coyotes (28-23-7).
Jake Evans and Brendan Gallagher scored 1:01 apart in the first for Montreal (27-24-7), which had won three straight. Carey Price made 31 saves.

Chychrun's goal came on Arizona's sixth power-play opportunity.
"Obviously you can't take that many penalties, put that much work on your penalty kill and on Carey to make those kinds of saves," Canadiens defenseman Ben Chiarot said. "It's going to be a tough night when you're shorthanded that much."
Stepan drew Arizona within 2-1 at 5:08 of the first.

Montreal had a 5-on-3 advantage for the final 1:31 of the first period and the first 29 seconds of the second after Stepan was called for tripping 21 seconds after Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson got a double minor for high sticking Nick Suzuki at 18:08.
Arizona held Montreal to two shots during that 4:00 shorthanded sequence. The Canadiens were 0-for-6 on the power play.
"When the guys are taking the seam passes away they kind of have to be on the outside all the time," Raanta said. "... I think the PK was the biggest thing for us, it gave us a chance to win the game."
Hall tied it at 2-2 with his 14th goal at 16:36 of the second, when the Coyotes held a 17-3 advantage in shots.

"You can't score two goals in one shot," Hall said. "It's about gaining momentum, getting to your game, and the best part about it was we had 50-plus minutes to gain control. And eventually we had a lot of chances, the shot clock looked pretty good for us there, and we were able to capitalize on a few and hold them in the third when they had some good shifts."
Evans gave Montreal a 1-0 lead with his first NHL goal 51 seconds into the first period. The rookie forward slapped a rebound of Nick Cousins' backhand from the front edge of the crease in his third NHL game.
"It was one of the first shifts so we had a lot of energy and we wanted to have a good forecheck going," Evans said.
Gallagher made it 2-0 on a second effort at 1:52. He recovered the puck and shot between Raanta's pads after Coyotes defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson blocked his first shot attempt from the top of the slot.

"Well, the first goal was my fault," Chychrun said. "I just lost track of the puck and I should have just stuck on my guy there, and we were able to get a tap-in there. And the second goal was just a lucky bounce for them. [Hjalmarsson] made a great block and it just went right on Brendan Gallagher's stick there, and nothing you can really do so we just stuck with it, hung in there.
"We had a really good second period, we were all over them. That's obviously a world class goalie and he made some big saves, but we were able to put a couple in."

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They said it

"I thought our [penalty] kill was great. I thought we forced the issue down ice and disrupted their breakout and maybe that was why they couldn't get pucks to the middle. But you're playing in a building like this, you're going to have to get penalty kills. Your goalie's going to have to make saves, and when you get chances to score, you've got to bury them, and that was the case tonight." -- Coyotes forward Taylor Hall
"It was a pretty amazing moment, something you dream of as a kid. And then in a building like this, and that kind of atmosphere, it's pretty special." -- Canadiens forward Jake Evans on his first NHL goal

Need to know

Forward Phillip Danault, who had an assist on Gallagher's goal, had to be helped off the ice at 1:37 of the second. He was bleeding from his mouth after he was struck in the face by the puck. There was no update. … Laurent Duvernay-Tardif of the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs was given a standing ovation when he was introduced wearing a Canadiens jersey with his name and No. 76 before performing the ceremonial face-off prior to the start of the game. The Chiefs' starting right guard from Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, studied at McGill University and is the first medical graduate to play in the NFL. … Ekman-Larsson played 17:50 in his return after missing four games with a lower-body injury. … Hall has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in the past 11 games.

What's next

Coyotes: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)
Canadiens: At the Boston Bruins on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, SN360, RDS, NHL.TV)