And, with good reason. It marked the first time all year that the Coyotes had secured a victory in regulation time, snapping a five-game winless streak in the process.
Making things worse was the fact that the Canadiens were in control of the contest early on, leading Rick Tocchet's contingent 2-0 through 20 minutes of play on goals by Brendan Gallagher and Paul Byron.
Unfortunately, after newcomer Nicolas Deslauriers dropped the gloves early in the second period, things just seemed to go downhill from there.
Instead of the Canadiens seizing more momentum from Deslauriers' tussle with Brad Richardson, the tables essentially turned the opposite way.
The Coyotes lit the lamp three times in the second and then scored two power play goals in the final period to rattle off just their third win of the season.
"We got sloppy in the second period, after that fight," said Julien, during his postgame press conference. "That gave them energy. We got sloppy and we didn't respect our game plan."
Like Julien, Gallagher didn't mince words when it came to assessing the reasons behind Thursday night's defeat.
"I don't care who you're playing. It sucks when you lose. It sucks even more when you lose and you feel like you could've done more. To a man in here, we could have done more," said Gallagher, who scored his team-leading eighth goal in the loss. "You've got to earn it. We didn't earn it. We deserved the fate we got."