Arizona Coyotes Continue Remarkable Run vs Blues!
The Arizona Coyotes earned an awesome shootout win in an exciting fourth game against the St. Louis Blues on Monday night.
Holy smokes! Do you believe it? What a finish! The Arizona Coyotes played an exciting and nerve-wracking game against a very determined and frustrated St. Louis Blues team and pulled out a tie at the last minute! Not only did Clayton Keller (4 G and 4 A – 8 pts) score the tying goal in regulation time with less than a second remaining, Christian Dvorak scored on the last of the Yotes’ 3 shootout chances to seal the victory.
Within the first 3 minutes of the game, the Blues’ Kyle Clifford and Coyotes’ John Hayden decided to introduce themselves to one another, briefly entertaining the crowd by skating in tight circles and landing a few “handshakes” apiece.
Although the Blues scored first on a power play at 6:31 of the first period, Conor Garland (5 G and 8 A – 18 pts) notched the equalizer at 1:48 of the second period on a rebound off the post. Nick Schmaltz sent a nifty pass to Clayton Keller, who took the initial shot that rattled off the left goal post, and the puck ricocheted directly into Garland’s path. The Blues’ David Perron scored 8:10 into the second period on some top-notch stick handling and skating around a face down and sprawling Darcy Kuemper.
Shortly thereafter, the Coyotes scored on a power play goal at 8:24 on a shot by Christian Dvorak (7 G and 6 A – 13 pts).
With the score tied at two in the third period, Blues Captain Ryan O’Reilly scored his 200th career goal at 3:44 of the period. Play then continued to ebb and flow, and then late in the game the Coyotes were able to play 6 on 4 with Darcy Kuemper on the bench. Lo and behold, Clayton Keller, posted to the left of Blues’ goalkeeper Jordan Binnington, slapped a rocket past the helpless netminder to score with only a couple of tenths of a second remaining on the score board.
The 5-minute overtime period, always an entertaining aspect of the game for the fans, didn’t break the tie. It was Christian Dvorak that scored the game winner in the shootout, however, lifting the puck over the left pad of a prone Jordan Binnington. Game over, and two more points for those surprising Desert Dogs!
Scheduling Note: As of this writing, the NHL and Coyotes have announced that the April 15 game versus the St. Louis Blues has been rescheduled for Friday night, February 12 at 7:00 p.m. at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. This means that the Blues and Coyotes will play each other seven consecutive times. Let’s go Coyotes!