Coyotes sweat out first win
PHILADELPHIA — The Arizona Coyotes finally got their first win of the season — but it didn’t come easily.
Alex Goligoski scored with 14.4 seconds left in overtime after the Coyotes blew a two-goal lead in the final minute of regulation during a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday.
Arizona (1-10-1) avoided setting an NHL record for most consecutive losses to start a season.
“Yeah, it felt like it wasn’t going to be easy when it didn’t come,” Goligoski said. “And it wasn’t, but we stuck with it. It’s really nice. We don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
Jordan Martinook, Christian Dvorak and Brandon Perlini also scored for the Coyotes, who matched the 1943-44 Rangers (0-11) by losing their first 11 games.
“Relief, excitement, happiness; you can go on and on with all the adjectives you want,” Martinook said. “Everybody is happy. It’s nice to finish a game with a smile on your face, even though we probably want to win games a little easier than that.”
Sean Couturier scored twice for the Flyers, and Ivan Provorov had three assists.
Arizona was in position to close it out earlier, but Jordan Weal scored on a rebound with 53 seconds left in the third period, and Couturier tipped a shot past goalie Scott Wedgewood with 16 seconds left in regulation to tie it at 3.
Goligoski scored the winner from a sharp angle in the 3-on-3 overtime period after a pass from Clayton Keller. The Coyotes leaped off the bench and swarmed Goligoski to celebrate their first win.
Lightning 8, Panthers 5—
At Sunrise, Fla., Steven Stamkos scored twice, and Ondrej Palat scored the goahead goal and had an assist to back Andrei Vasilevskiy, who won his ninth straight start.
Stars 2, Canucks 1, OT—
At Vancouver, British Columbia, Alexander Radulov scored 2:32 into overtime and had an assist to back Ben Bishop, who had 38 saves, and halt Vancouver’s four-game win streak.
At St. Louis, Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz each had a goal and an assist for St. Louis (10-2-1), which matched the franchise’s best start from 1997.
At Columbus, Ohio, Artemi Panarin and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored in the shootout to back Sergei Bobrovsky, who had 27 saves and an assist.
At Ottawa, Ontario, Charles Hudon scored his first two career goals and had an assist, and Artturi Lehkonen also scored twice for Montreal.
At San Jose, Calif., Tim Heed assisted on Joe Pavelski’s tying goal in the second period and scored the goahead goal early in the third for San Jose.
Blues 4, Kings 2 — Blue Jackets 4, Bruins 3SO— Canadiens 8, Senators 3— Sharks 3, Maple Leafs 2—