Sunday, 1 February 2015

{coyotes} Domingue gets first NHL win, Coyotes top Canadiens

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MONTREAL -- After a rough start, the Arizona Coyotes settled down and eventually got the right bounces to claim their first win at Bell Centre since 1996.

Lauri Korpikoski scored two power-play goals and Arizona overcame an early two-goal deficit for a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.

Coyotes goalie Louis Domingue made 18 saves and won his first NHL start. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored an unassisted goal for Arizona (18-26-6), which has won two of three following a seven-game losing streak (0-5-2).

"With the situation our team's in, you know there's lots of trade rumors surrounding our team and stuff, but all we have to do is make sure we play hard," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "And if we get good goaltending, we have a chance to win."

Domingue, a native of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, was four years old when Arizona last won in Montreal, 5-4 in overtime on Oct. 28, 1996.

He made his NHL debut Saturday when he relieved Mike Smith and allowed two goals on 11 shots in the final 17:43 of a 7-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre.

"He's a confident player," Tippett said. "I like his attitude. There was not one bit of doubt in our team's mind that he was going to play well."

Alex Galchenyuk scored two goals 3:40 apart on the second and fourth shots Domingue faced to give Montreal (32-14-3) a 2-0 lead at 4:55 of the first period.

"The first five minutes was pretty hard," Domingue said. "It was a lot of emotion to take in. It was certainly a battle and to be able to sit after the first period and regroup myself when I went out there in the second period I was comfortable, it was just like I was playing a game in the American Hockey League, so just being able to sit and relax was big for me."

Canadiens backup goalie Dustin Tokarski made 29 saves as Montreal's winning streak ended at five games. Korpikoski's power-play goal at 17:43 of the second period ended the Canadiens' shutout streak at 190:46.

"Before that, we had a few chances but nothing too good, so it was good get a goal there and bring some light and obviously it wasn't that big of a hill to climb anymore," Korpikoski said.

Montreal's Carey Price, who rested, has a shutout streak of 153:05. He recorded consecutive shutouts in 1-0 wins against the New York Rangers on Thursday and the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

"We just played a really emotional game and I believe our emotion was not quite there to be able to perform at a level that we were looking for," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said.

Ekman-Larsson drew Arizona even at 2-2 with an unassisted goal 32 seconds into the third period. He snuck a shot inside the left post past Tokarski from a sharp angle for his 14th goal, which leads all NHL defensemen.

Korpikoski gave the Coyotes the lead at 3:17 of the third when his shot from the left edge of the crease struck Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin and caromed past Tokarski for his sixth goal, his second power-play goal of the game.

"It's frustrating," Canadiens left wing Max Pacioretty said. "Obviously we didn't give it our best and they got a couple of bounces I think that was the back breaker. It was a little bit too late for us to try and come back, you know, their goalie made some big saves, but at the end of the day I don't think we gave it our best."

Arizona began its comeback when Korpikoski deflected Martin Erat's shot down and between Tokarski's pads. A video review confirmed the on-ice ruling that Korpikoski's stick made contact with the puck below the level of the crossbar.

"I saw it right away," Domingue said. "We saw it on the screen. It was a good goal, and it was probably a goal that changed the game for us."

The Coyotes looked like they might be in for another long afternoon Sunday when Galchenyuk made it 1-0 at 1:15 of the first with a wrist shot past Domingue into the top right corner from the right faceoff circle.

The Canadiens increased their lead to 2-0 at 4:55 when Galchenyuk redirected David Desharnais' pass from behind the net past Domingue for his 15th goal.

It was Galchenyuk's second multi-goal game in 162 games. He scored his first career hat trick on Dec. 16 in a 4-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Montreal center Lars Eller went to the dressing room at 12:46 of the second after he was cross-checked by Arizona's Brendan Shinnimin. Eller left the game after an 18-second shift later in the period and did not return after sustaining a lower-back injury.

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