Playing the St. Louis Blues for the fourth time this season and second time in five games, the Arizona Coyotes seemed to find the answers that didn’t show in previous matchups.
With Connor Ingram once again stealing the show with 31 saves in his 10th win of the season, the Coyotes rode a three-goal lead from the first period for a 4-1 win on Saturday night at Mullett Arena.
“Guys are playing well and obviously, it’s more fun when you win and Ingy’s been unreal, so is Veggie (Karel Vejmelka), so if they keep going like that, we’re going to have a lot more fun nights like this,” forward Matias Maccelli said.
The Coyotes (12-9-2) have completed the rare feat of defeating the last four Stanley Cup winners over the four-game win streak. The Coyotes will continue the homestand with the Washington Capitals, the 2018 Stanley Cup winners, on Monday.
Home is where the scoring is
Michael Carcone has quickly become one of the biggest surprises offensively this season after spending most of last season in the American Hockey League. Carcone saw nine games of action last year, but didn’t have enough time to make an impact.
After earning his spot in training camp this season, he’s done more with a bigger role as injuries continue to impact the forwards group. Carcone’s 11th goal of the season came when he buried a swift pass from Alex Kerfoot in the corner to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead 40 seconds into the game. He now leads the team in scoring and holds the most goals at home this season with eight.
First period binge
The Coyotes turned a one-goal lead into a three-goal shutout over the course of the first period. Kerfoot once again played a large role in the second goal, flipping a backhanded assist over to Nick Schmaltz for a power play goal at 15:49 in the first. Maccelli finished off a feed on the rush from Michael Kesselring and Lawson Crouse at 19:22.
On top of not allowing any shots from the Blues on the penalty kill, the Coyotes didn’t give the Blues much time and space in the first period, outshooting them by 13-3.
“That’s our best first period of the year, no doubt about it,” head coach André Tourigny said. “With and without the puck, we had urgency and we had a plan and were focused. I really liked our first period.”
Same mistakes, new solutions
The last two periods had an eerie similarity to when the Coyotes went up 4-1 in the first period and lost 5-4 to the Los Angeles Kings earlier this season. As great as the first period was, the Coyotes didn’t follow up with more pressure on the Blues and relied heavily on Ingram and the penalty kill.
“We have a team that it’s not about pressure, cutting time and space and sitting back is not our forte and it’s not our game. We needed Ingy to stand tall and he was really good and he was the story of the last two periods,” Tourigny said.
Ingram faced 29 shots over the last two periods and stood tall with massive saves, including a split save against defenseman Colton Parayko at 19:10 in the second. The Blues nearly had its second goal at 18:22 in the third when Pavel Buchnevich’s shot flirted with the line, but the review showed that the puck never crossed the line.
