Coyotes defeat Canadiens for 1st regulation win this season

It took 21 games, but the Arizona Coyotes finally have their first regulation win of the season after defeating the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 on Thursday.

Forward Christian Fischer scored the winner for the Coyotes, who battled back from three separate Montreal leads. The Canadiens were up 2-0 after the first period.

Brad Richardson, Christian Dvorak, Tobias Rieder, and Derek Stepan also tallied for Arizona, whose record improved to 3-15-3 on the season.

The victory is long overdue for Arizona, and the first regulation win for Coyotes' first-year head coach Rick Tocchet. Thursday's contest was also the first time this season Arizona scored more than four goals in a game.

"It was a hard win," Tocchet said. "I have to give the guys a lot of credit over the last 40 (minutes). There were fights. There was guys blocking shots. There was a little bit of everything tonight. That's what you have to do to win."

The Coyotes previously picked up wins in extra time against the Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes. The team will look to extend its winning streak to two games when it heads to Ottawa on Saturday to take on the Senators.