On Tuesday, the Montreal Canadians and Arizona Coyotes both went into their game on losing streaks. Montreal had lost 5 straight while the Coyotes had lost a whopping 12 straight games. Unfortunately for Arizona, The Canadians came out on top, winning 4-2 at home. 

One of the main reasons for the result was Canadians goalie Sam Montembeult who recorded 36 saves on 38 shots. Montembeult stood on his head, but was quick to humility after the game, highlighting the efforts of his fellow teammates. “They had a lot of shots but even with that we’ve got some guys like (Mike) Matheson and (Johnathan) Kovacevic, they blocked a lot of shots, too” said Montembeult.

The Canadians were peppering shots on net, The Coyotes outshot the Canadians 38-21, and had many high quality scoring chances, but could not beat the stellar play of Montembeult. Coach André Tourigny commented on the Candians focused shooting attack by saying, “We had emotion, we had passion, there was a good feeling on the bench. We had 77% of the scoring chances, a lot of quality shots but their goaltender stood tall”.

For the Coyotes, this loss is especially demoralizing. Arizona has now lost 13 straight and has fallen to second to last in the Central Division. The only divisional opponent that sits under the Coyotes in the standings is the Chicago Blackhawks, who are in full rebuild mode. The Coyotes will most surely have to pivot into a rebuild if they have not already. 

The future of hockey in Arizona is in a tenuous position, especially when put into the context of a potential relocation. The Coyotes are currently operating the team out of Mullett Arena, a college stadium, and a recent arena vote in Tempe failed to pass. The team is currently looking for privately owned land in order to build a new stadium, but that is looking increasingly less likely to be located in Arizona. One popular rumor is that the team could be looking to move to Salt Lake City, but nothing has been officially released.