Coyotes beat San Jose, collect 4th win in 5 games
Jan 16, 2019, 11:55 PM
Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun (6), defenseman Alex Goligoski (33), center Clayton Keller (9) and right wing Conor Garland (83) celebrate a goal by Alex Galchenyuk, while San Jose Sharks center Logan Couture (39) kneels on the ice and linesman Mark Shewchyk (92) skates past during the third period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
GLENDALE, Ariz. — If there were such thing as a particularly critical time this season for the Coyotes to string together some wins, that time might be right now.
The Coyotes got one of those such wins on Wednesday night, beating the San Jose Sharks on national television, 6-3.
The Coyotes are now four points out of a Wild Card spot. Including Wednesday’s game, they are in a stretch of five tough games before a lengthy break in the schedule, and four of those opponents are currently playoff teams. They’re difficult games at a time when Arizona can capitalize on the mediocrity around the Western Conference.
All the while, the Coyotes picked up their fourth win in five games on Wednesday by beating the Sharks.
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“It’s been a weird year with other teams in our division kind of winning and losing,” Christian Fischer said. “Obviously we have the wins in four of the last five, and that’s great, but we’re still just out of it a little bit. That doesn’t mean we can stop working, we need all the points we can get. It’s nice knowing that we’re playing good hockey right now. Everyone’s contributing somehow, some way.”
Arizona now has nine points in its last six games.
“I think it’s just that we realize what position we’re in, and if you look at the standings right now, it’s wide open,” defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. “We’re right there — I don’t know how, to be honest with you, with a lot of injuries. We’re just finding ways right now to get points and that’s what we have to do.”
After Wednesday, the Coyotes host Pittsburgh and play at Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, then have an All-Star break and a bye week. That means that they have no home games from Jan. 19 to Feb. 6, and no games at all from Jan. 24 to Feb. 1.
Tocchet emphasized the importance, though, of taking things one day at a time.
“I don’t even know who we’re playing Sunday. I do know it’s a really good team,” coach Rick Tocchet said with a smirk. “Honestly, we can not think that far. We just kind of take it game-by-game.”
The Coyotes on Wednesday defeated the Sharks, who are in second place in the Pacific Division behind Calgary but were playing on the second half of a back-to-back. The Sharks hosted the Penguins on Tuesday night.
Arizona’s six goals all came from different skaters and were distributed evenly among the three periods of play. Lawson Crouse, Richard Panik, Fischer, Ekman-Larsson, Alex Galchenyuk and Josh Archibald (the latter two being empty-netters) all scored, while Darcy Kuemper made 26 saves as the Coyotes outshot San Jose 41-29.
Panik’s goal, his tenth of the season, puts him second on the team in goals for the season. It was shorthanded, the first such goal of his career and the 12th for Arizona as a team this season, which is second-most in the NHL behind Calgary’s 14.
Fischer’s goal was his 11th of the year and tied him with Brad Richardson for the team lead, though he joked in the dressing room after the game that he got a piece of Ekman-Larsson’s goal, therefore stating that he should’ve had two goals on Wednesday.
In reality, Ekman-Larsson notched his 108th career goal, which tied him with Teppo Numminen for the most by a defenseman in franchise history.
Galchenyuk’s goal was his eighth of the season. He now has five goals and nine assists for 14 points in his last 12 games.
While the 6-3 score may seem lopsided, the Sharks trailed only 4-3 at one point, and that was after missing out on a near-goal. At the time, it was 4-2 Coyotes and the Sharks nearly scored, but Mario Kempe jumped in to save the day. His leap into the crease stopped a puck that otherwise could’ve changed the outcome of the game.
WHAT! HOW DID THIS PUCK NOT GO IN!@dkuemps35 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/Xmo5lzashS
— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) January 17, 2019
“It was just a desperation save,” Kempe said. “I saw that he got the puck and I was pretty close to the net, so I just threw myself in the crease. I’m lucky it hit me. It was like an old school sliding save. But no, it was nice that we kept that puck out because it could’ve been a different game if they score there. It was a little lucky.”
The Coyotes host the Penguins on Friday before heading north to play Toronto on Sunday.
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