Arizona Coyotes, Clayton Keller rally in third period to force 4-3 shootout win over Kraken
With the top line back into form and a relentless defense against the Seattle Kraken, the Arizona Coyotes avoided falling into a slump on Tuesday.
The Coyotes (6-5-1) rallied twice against the Kraken, forcing overtime on a power play goal by Clayton Keller, then held off close chances from the Kraken during overtime. Nick Bjugstad scored the lone shootout goal as the Coyotes took a 4-3 win to close out the homestand at Mullett Arena.
“We talked about even when you don’t have your A game, you need to find a way and you need to crawl in and you need to dig deep and find a way to win,” head coach Andre Tourigny said. “I won’t pretend that we played an excellent game, but we battled extremely hard and crawled our way back. Our willingness to fight made the difference.”
Keller tallied two points on a goal and an assist, inspiring his line with Barrett Hayton and Nick Schmaltz in the game. Over the last five games, Keller had only tallied two assists and hadn’t scored a goal.
Against a speedy team, Coyotes goaltender Connor Ingram turned away two saves in overtime and all three shooters in the shootout. He finished the night with 35 saves on 38 shots.
Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord started in his first game at Mullett Arena. Daccord, who played at Arizona State from 2016-19, is the first ASU player to reach the NHL. He finished with 24 saves on 27 shots.
The Coyotes went 2-for-4 on power plays and 1-for-3 on penalty kills.
After going 2-1-0 in the last three home games, the Coyotes will embark on a five-game road trip starting Thursday in St. Louis.
Top line finding success
Coming into the game, the top line struggled with just two goals, all from Schmaltz, over the last five games.
The struggles ended as Hayton broke through for his first goal and point of the season off a deflection from Keller on the power play at 3:59 in the second.
“These are such critical games right now and I wanted to get off to a good start as a team and you want to focus on playing a complete game,” Hayton said. “At the same time, being a competitor, I want to produce and I want to score, but it’s so early and you go through spells. I want to keep the main focus on the group and taking advantage of these games.”
All the confidence from the top line showed up early as Keller played an all-around game. When Ingram faced a barrage of shots from Kraken left winger Jared McCann, Keller was the one to save a puck that was merely centimeters from the line.
Maccelli sets pace
It was nowhere near the start the Coyotes wanted as the Kraken came out strong and fast. Speed took over once left winger Eeli Tolvanen and center Yanni Gourde launched on a 2-on-1 and Tolvanen scored within 40 seconds.
After holding off several attempts from the Kraken, Matias Maccelli injected life into the Coyotes offense and used a Kraken defenseman as a screen to shoot from the high slot for a 1-1 tie at 6:06. His second goal of the season extended his point streak to nine games.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Coyotes, Clayton Keller rally to force shootout win vs. Kraken
