Game Recap
The Arizona Coyotes won their fourth straight game last night, beating the St. Louis Blues 4-1. The Coyotes had struggled against the Blues in their previous two appearances, so seeing the Desert Dogs put their heads down and go to work was outstanding.
It was an eventful first period for the Desert Dogs, who got on the board just 40 seconds in. Michael Carcone started the scoring for Arizona, netting his 11th of the season.
Carcone found a quiet part of the ice and was wide-open for Alex Kerfoot, who picked up his ninth assist of the season.
Arizona scored again later in the period on their second power play of the game. This time, Nick Schmaltz got open to a pass from Kerfoot, with Clayton Keller getting a secondary assist.
It was a tremendous pass from Kerfoot and a great move by Schmaltz to get into the perfect position to receive the pass.
The Coyotes were up 2-0, and they could have stopped. We have seen them coast on a lead before, but they seemingly learned their lesson and kept pushing, this time with Matias Maccelli getting his fourth of the season from Lawson Crouse and Michael Kesselring.
Crouse didn’t seem to have full control of the puck, but he had enough to get it to an open spot on the ice for a streaking Maccelli, and with 38 seconds left in the first period, the Coyotes were up 3-0.
Arizona kept things up in the second period, although they needed to kill a few penalties. Juuso Välimäki took an early interference call, as did the Coyotes bench 13 and a half minutes in, but the Coyotes successfully killed both penalties. After being limited to just three shots in the opening period, the Blues responded with 15 shots in the middle frame, so Connor Ingram was definitely doing his job for the Coyotes.
The third period would see the Blues break Ingram’s shutout with their lone goal of the game. Brandon Saad got the Blues on the board with a backhand shot after multiple efforts.
The Coyotes stayed on the box, and Ingram stayed perfect for the rest of the game. St. Louis pulled netminder Joel Hofer early to have a chance at coming back, but Alex Kerfoot scored an empty net goal, and that was all she wrote for the game.
Last night’s game could have been a trap game. The Coyotes beat themselves in at least one game against the Blues this season, and after three tough opponents, the Blues would be an easy team to overlook. Thankfully, the Coyotes played the right way and walked away with two points and the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
Lines
Three Stars
- Alex Kerfoot – Goal and two assists
- Michael Carcone – Goal
- Connor Ingram – 31 saves on 32 shots
Next Game
The Coyotes will host the Washington Capitals on December 4th.