Coyotes shut out after 1st period in loss to Penguins, their 4th straight defeat
Dec 12, 2023, 7:56 PM | Updated: 10:07 pm
Arizona Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny stands behind the team bench during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jeff Carter and Jake Guentzel both scored twice and Pittsburgh’s beleaguered power play showed signs of life as the Penguins slipped past the Arizona Coyotes 4-2 on Tuesday night.
Pittsburgh scored twice with the man advantage while ending an 0-for-37 drought that stretched over a month.
Jake Guentzel scored the Penguins’ first power-play goal in 31 days when he beat Carter Ingram just over a minute into the game and added an empty-netter from his belly to seal it.
Carter deflected Kris Letang’s point shot past Ingram 4:32 into the third to give Pittsburgh the lead for good as the Penguins ended a four-game losing streak. Carter, relegated to the fourth line in his 19th season, scored the 20th short-handed goal of his career in the first period.
Tristan Jarry made 19 saves as the Penguins pulled away from the Coyotes, playing for the third time in four nights on the road.
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Lawson Crouse scored his 13th of the season for Arizona and added an assist on Matias Maccelli’s power-play goal. Ingram stopped 40 shots but let Carter’s deflection sneak by him as the Coyotes lost their 11th consecutive game to Pittsburgh.
Arizona rookie forward Logan Cooley, a Pittsburgh native who took up the game by as a 5-year-old by participating in a “Little Penguins” program run by franchise icon Sidney Crosby, skated 16:26 in his return to his hometown.
“It’s a pretty special feeling,” the 19-year-old Cooley said. “Crosby is a guy that I watched a lot.”
The Penguins came in riding a 3-6-3 funk since Nov. 16, fueled in part by their star-laden power play’s inability to find the back of the net, with players passing up open shots.
It did not take long for Guentzel to end Pittsburgh’s long power-play drought, taking a pass from behind the net by Crosby and beating Ingram from in close 1:12 into the game.
Arizona scored twice on the power play, with Crouse taking a cross-ice pass from former Penguin Jason Zucker and chipping it past Jarry 10:20 into the first. Maccelli pounced on a loose puck in front of the Pittsburgh net and jammed the puck into the net to put the Coyotes in front.
Carter pulled the Penguins even later in the first period by breaking in alone on Ingram and beating him with a backhand.
When do the Coyotes play next?
The Coyotes begin a three-game homestand on Friday when San Jose visits.
