MONTREAL – Top draft pick Juraj Slafkovsky scored his first career goal and the Montreal Canadiens used a three-goal first period to cruise to a 6-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.
Josh Anderson, Cole Caufield and Brendan Gallagher gave Montreal the early cushion.
Nick Suzuki notched a penalty shot marker and Sean Monahan added an empty-netter. Jake Allen made 25 saves in the win.
The Canadiens (3-2-0) improved to 3-0 at home on the season with the victory.
J.J. Moser and Travis Boyd scored for Arizona. Lawson Crouse added two assists.
In his first start with the Coyotes (1-3-0), Connor Ingram stopped 24 of the 29 shots he faced.
Anderson got the Habs started 1:58 into the opening period as he scored on a rebound from a Jonathan Drouin shot that hit the post.
Just over two minutes later, Montreal doubled its advantage when Crouse gave up a costly turnover to Caufield in the slot where his shot bounced past Ingram and into the net.
Gallagher tried his luck on a two-on-one and beat Ingram glove side to open his 2022-23 account on the Canadiens’ fourth shot of the game at 7:17 to make it 3-0.
Slafkovsky notched his first NHL goal 8:17 into the second period when he intercepted the puck and beat Ingram with a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. The Bell Centre crowd gave the first overall pick a standing ovation as the PA announcer called his name. Canadiens fans kept going, chanting Slafkovsky’s name following the goal.
Suzuki was given a penalty shot when he was tripped by Juuso Valimaki while Montreal was short-handed. The captain took all the space he needed then lobbed the puck over Ingram to increase the Habs’ lead to 5-0 at 18:27 in the second period.
The Coyotes ruined Allen’s shutout bid with two quick goals in the third period. Crouse sent the puck to Moser who fired a one-timer atop the left faceoff circle to finally break the ice at 6:21.
Crouse then fed Boyd who gave Arizona its second goal at 8:18.
With under four minutes remaining, Monahan scored an empty-net goal to close it out.
CAUFIELD ON FIRE
Cole Caufield picked up right where he left off in the home stretch of the 2021-22 season. The 21 year-old winger has four goals and one assist in five games this season.
Caufield’s goal on Thursday night was his 26th since Martin St. Louis took over as the Habs’ bench boss. During that span, only Kirill Kaprizov (31), Auston Matthews (30), Elias Lindholm (28) and Steven Stamkos (28) have more goals than the 21 year-old.
NEXT UP
The Canadiens will enter the back-half of a four-game home stint when they welcome the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Arizona continues its six-game road trip with a stop in Ottawa to take on the Senators on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2022.
