NHL: 3 stories from Monday night
Two Canadian teams worked to stop their losing streaks in Monday night NHL action. The Montreal Canadiens were successful, but the Edmonton Oilers had a very different result.
Things are getting worse for the Oilers
Everyone in the Edmonton Oilers franchise should be worried after the team lost their 10th straight game, a 5-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes.
It looked promising for the Oilers at first. They scored the first goal in the opening period, a feat they hadn't managed in their last seven games.
However, the success was short-lived. Arizona took over in the second period, answering with four straight goals, including two short-handed goals from Tobias Rieder. Defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson had the game winner for the Coyotes.
The scene was ugly, and captain Andrew Ferrence spoke out about issues in the dressing room after the game. He was critical of what is going on behind the scenes, but would not mention anyone specifically.
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The Oilers are now four losses away from tying a franchise record. The longest franchise winless streak is 14 games from Oct. 11 to Nov. 7, 1993.
Canadiens victorious over familiar foe
The sliding Montreal Canadiens finally managed to end their skid with a 4-3 victory over Patrick Roy's Colorado Avalanche. It was a great start to their four-game Western road trip after dropping three straight.
It was a close contest that saw former Montreal Canadiens forward Daniel Briere get a bit of revenge on the team that traded him for Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau over the summer. He scored in dramatic fashion with only 33 seconds remaining in the first period to tie the game 1-1.
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The Canadiens had the last laugh with the third period game winner from Max Pacioretty, who is the team's leading goal scorer with 12 this season.
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It wasn't the only victory that the Habs would celebrate Monday. Movember ended Dec. 1, and so did Montreal's friendly bet with Vancouver. The Canucks were at the losing end of the bet, and had to post something a bit uncomfortable to their social media pages.
Lightning strike out with huge 3rd period
The first two periods of the Tampa Bay Lightning game against the New York Rangers kept things close. That didn't last into the third period, when the Lightning took over with three goals.
Lightning forward Brett Connolly netted the game-winning goal on the power play early in the third.
It wasn't the result the Rangers were hoping for. The team honoured forward Martin St. Louis prior to the game. The 39-year-old scored his 1,000th point on Friday night, and the Rangers presented him with gifts in front of the crowd at Madison Square Garden.
He managed to increase that point total to 1,001 with a power-play goal in the second period, but it wasn't enough to fend off his surging former team.
