Five things we learned from Coyotes’ blowout

Here are five things we learned from the Coyotes’ 7-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday at Gila River Arena:

1. Best P.K. in the West

If you can take anything from Saturday’s 7-1 blowout win over the Lightning, it was that the Coyotes’ penalty kill is the real deal.

Not only did the Coyotes’ shorthanded unit only allow one fluky powerplay goal to a lethal man-advantage team that boasts players such as Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson, but they actually scored more than the other team in such situations. Two goals to one, actually.

Michael Grabner was the provider of both short-handed goals for the Coyotes on Saturday, with one coming at 11:48 of the second period and the other at 8:59 of the third. Those two goals make five total short-handed goals for the Coyotes in 10 games this season. By contrast, they have allowed just three goals on the power play this season.

The Coyotes entered the game already with the best penalty-killing percentage in the Western Conference and trail only the Lightning in that department among all NHL teams, but no team in hockey has anything close to a plus-2 goal differential while short-handed.

2. Back in the race

After starting the season with a dismal 1-4 record and a lack of goal-scoring, the Coyotes have won four of their last five games and scored 22 goals over that span to put themselves just two points out of first place in the Pacific Division standings entering Sunday.

If the Coyotes can tread water down the stretch, there’s no reason to think they couldn’t sneak into a playoff spot in an underwhelming race in the Pacific.

Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet was quick to downplay the team’s earlyseason turnaround, putting things into perspective and saying, “We’re not ordering any rings yet,” but eight points in their last five games is certainly a trend in the right direction for this team.

3. Raanta looks well

Antti Raanta looked as though he’s fully recovered from the flu-like symptoms that caused him to miss starts on Tuesday in Columbus and Thursday in Glendale by stopping 30 of 31 shots on Saturday against the Lightning.

The Coyotes’ starting netminder is 3-4-0 with a 2.13 goals allowed average and a .921 save percentage this season.

4. Keller keeps going

Coyotes winger Clayton Keller scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season in Saturday’s 7-1 rout over the Lightning, as the sophomore rather quietly pieces together a good start at a follow-up campaign to his stellar rookie season.

Keller took a nice feed from center Alex Galchenyuk — with whom he’s been playing with for the last three games — and wristed a shot toward the net. Although it was ultimately tipped in by a Lightning defender, Keller’s willingness to shoot the puck (and knowing when to do it) is a big reason for his success.

5. Balanced scoring

That the Coyotes had six different players score goals in Saturday’s game is a fact that should not be overlooked.

Grabner was the only player in the game who scored twice, and he did so short-handed both times. The Coyotes also got goals from Keller, Panik, Jordan Oesterle, Derek Stepan and Vinnie Hinostroza.