Arizona Coyotes return home from 14-game road trip to beat NHL’s best Boston Bruins

TEMPE — The Arizona Coyotes returned to home ice on Friday night for just their fifth game at Mullett Arena.

After tying an NHL record with 14 consecutive games on the road, the team returned to Tempe to host the NHL’s best team in the Boston Bruins (21-4-1).

And despite getting outshot 46-16, the Coyotes (8-13-4) came out with a 4-3 win thanks to Lawson Crouse’s game-winning goal with 13.5 seconds remaining after the Bruins tried to get an icing call but ended up turning the puck over in their own zone.

pic.twitter.com/y99SPswlHY https://t.co/vAIHX0Gawv

— Jake Anderson (@jwa1994) December 10, 2022

“We were trying to sustain the pressure as much as we could, got the puck out and kind of a lucky curve to the puck it ended up on their net,” Crouse said postgame.

“(Matias Maccelli) didn’t stop, he chased it right down. I was kind of posted up at the blueline thinking it was going to be icing. He made a great pass to me on the open side and I tried to get it up as quick as I could and it went in.”

The victory over Boston was also largely due to Arizona goaltender Karel Vejmelka’s 43 saves. It marks the fifth-career 40-plus save performance from Vejmelka, who becomes the ninth goaltender in franchise history to achieve the feat.

“I give him a ton of credit,” Coyotes head coach André Tourigny said postgame. “Boston has a way to attack and we took away their No. 1 strength and Veg took care of the rest.

“So I think he was rock solid. For the most part of the game, not all game, but most parts of the game we kind of took their strength in the offensive zone away and Veg did the rest.”

The Coyotes only trailed once in the contest after taking the lead just 23 seconds into the game thanks to defenseman Josh Brown. The rookie’s third goal of the campaign was also the fastest on the season for Arizona thus far.

#Yotes Josh Brown's third goal of the season assisted by Matias Maccelli (16) and Lawson Crouse (3)pic.twitter.com/XCnz1kyTy1

— Jake Anderson (@jwa1994) December 10, 2022

Coyotes D Jakob Chychrun picked up an assist on the goal, marking his 150th career point to become the 13th defenseman in club history to do so.

The Bruins did most of their offensive damage on the power play, scoring two of their three goals with a man advantage. Boston finished the game 2-for-6 on the PP with just eight penalty minutes, while Arizona went 0-for-4 with 12 PIM.

“We were relentless, we were heavy, we went toe-to-toe with them on the intensity, the speed,” Tourigny said. “They are really fast to be honest. … That was pace flying out there. That’s a good team.”

LOOSE PUCKS

– The win snaps Boston’s 19-game winning streak over Arizona.

– Crouse has now scored in four of the five games at Mullett Arena.

UP NEXT

The Coyotes host the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPN 620 AM / 98.7 FM HD-2.

Follow @jwa1994