Coyotes seize control

EDMONTON, Alberta — The Arizona Coyotes knew they had a big opportunity once their challenge erased Nashville's go-ahead goal early in the third period.

The Coyotes took advantage scoring the next three goals.

Conor Garland and Taylor Hall each scored in the third period and the Coyotes beat the Predators 4-1 Wednesday.

Now the Coyotes, seeded 11th in the West in the NHL's restart, can eliminate the sixth-seeded Predators in Game 4 on Friday in this best-of-five qualifying series.

“We all understood the importance of it,” Hall said of the overturned goal. “To go up 2-1 in the series is the same as going up 3-2 in a best-of-seven. We wanted the last game just as much as today. Obviously, the next game is going to be huge.”

Christian Dvorak scored on Arizona's first shot of the game, and Coyotes scored three in the third for the victory capped by Carl Soderberg's empty-netter inside the final two minutes.

The Predators thought they had a 2-1 lead 1:13 into the third period on a goal by Kyle Turris, but the Coyotes won their challenge of offside with Nashville center Matt Duchene found over the blue line on review. Turris later hit the post with 6:19 left.

“We didn't know about the offside until the last second,” Garland said. “We were just focused on getting the next one. Obviously, that was a big bounce for us. We just kept with it, and obviously got the next one.”

Garland put the Coyotes ahead to stay with his wrister from the slot at 7:08 of the third for the first playoff goal of his career. Hall padded the lead with 4:22 left with his first goal of the series on a snap shot from the left circle. The Coyotes had been 1-of-9 on the man advantage through the first two games.

Nashville coach John Hynes called the Duchene offside the kind of detail the Predators can't have. Now they're a game away from the season being over.

“We're also 60 minutes from getting it to Game 5,” Hynes said.

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 39 saves for the victory in his third start in four games and second in as many days. Arizona coach Rick Tocchet called it a terrific performance.

“Kuemps has been like that for two years,” Tocchet said. “Nothing fazes him. throughout the years I played, you always have those goalies everyone wants to play for because he's such a great guy, never blames his teammates. Those are the guys you want to block shots for and play for. Kuemps is that type of guy.” by

Lightning improve position: Tyler Johnson scored the tiebreaking goal with 87 seconds left to lead the Lightning to a 3-2 victory over the Bruins in Toronto and send the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins to their second straight loss in the playoff seeding round.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 shots for the Lightning, who improved to 2-0 in the three-game round-robin.

The Lightning will earn the top seed in the East with a victory over the Flyers on Saturday.