Coyotes rookie Keller scores again to continue phenomenal start to season

The Arizona Coyotes have not won yet 10 games into the 2017-18 season. That might be the lasting note for the start of the season, but rookie Clayton Keller’s performance in those games will not go unnoticed.

The 19-year-old Keller entered the Coyotes’ 11th game of the season against the New Jersey Devils with seven goals and four assists.

He added to his goal tally on the season in the second period. Keller would dispossess fellow rookie Nico Hischier in the New Jersey zone and take the puck in alone against goalie Cory Schneider.

He would then go on to show off his puck-handling ability, flashing a quick one-two move and firing the puck five-hole to give the Coyotes a 3-2 lead.

The goal was Keller’s eighth of the season in 11 games, putting him in a tie for third place on the NHL goals leaderboard. He leads all rookies in goals and points (12).

Arizona has lacked a player with the offensive firepower of Keller for quite some time. In this decade, Radim Vrbata’s 35 goals in the 2011-12 season are the only time a Coyotes player has scored at least 30 goals. Shane Doan’s 28 in the 2015-16 season, in fact, is the only other time in the decade a Coyotes player has scored at least 25 goals.

In only 11 games, Keller’s eight goals would have him placed 10th on the Coyotes’ goal leaderboard last season and he needs only 13 more goals to top Vrbata’s 20 as the leading goal scorer last year.

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