Kuemper wins brawl, leads Coyotes to win
With seven of their next eight games coming against Pacific Division opponents, the Coyotes knew they needed to make a statement against the Calgary Flames as they began a crucial stretch against several division rivals.
Coyotes goaltender Darcy Kuemper made sure that statement was deliv
ered.
In addition to stopping 37 shots in a 3-0 shutout win for the Coyotes on Saturday, Kuemper also incited a brawl against the Flames in which he slammed an opponent to the ice.
Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau cross-checked Coyotes defenseman Jason Demers to the ice after Demers shoved Gaudreau moments before. Once Demers was down, Gaudreau and teammate Matthew Tkachuk began jabbing at Demers as play continued.
“I just thought Johnny maybe got like a little elbow or a little hit late,” Tkachuk said after the game. “And then he (Johnny), I think cross-checked him back. I haven’t even seen the replay. But (Demers) seemed to go down a little bit easy. ... We didn’t like that too much.”
Kuemper was having none of it and jumped out of his crease to put Tkachuk in a headlock and ultimately lift him off his feet before putting him on the ice.
This started a sort of hullabaloo between all players on the ice. Tkachuk got free of Kuemper and seemingly tried punching everything in sight, including childhood friend and Coyotes winger Clayton Keller.
Eventually, Kuemper and Tkachuk found each other once again and began throwing punches, of which Tkachuk landed a couple on the Coyotes goaltender and sent him to the ice.
“I was just trying to get (Tkachuk) off of (Demers),” Kuemper said. “I didn’t think it would escalate to that. It happens, a little bit of fun and then we got back to work.”
The Flames would be assessed eight minutes of penalties, while the Coyotes were assessed with six. Kuemper and Tkachuk each got four minutes. The crowd chanted Kuemper’s name as he returned to the crease.
Demers didn’t seem to agree with Tkachuk’s opinion that he embellished the cross-check, despite Gaudreau’s diminutive size, citing his fear of taking a puck to the face had he gotten up from the initial hit.
“I didn’t feel like eating it in the face,” Demers said. “He (Tkachuk) was pretty mad but it’s the kind of game you get when you play those guys. It’s high-tension. It’s a playoff atmosphere, which is great. I thought we stepped up great.
“It was nice having my security guard back there: Darcy.”
Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet, who was involved in a countless number of brawls as a player, agreed that the game was “exciting for the fans.”
Still, the incident felt less like a brawl and more like a message.
The Coyotes were not happy with their overtime loss on Nov. 5 in Calgary — in which Tkachuk scored twice, including the overtime winner — and felt the need to bring it at home after dropping their past two games at Gila River Arena.
They had some added inspiration in the form of 8-year-old Leighton Accardo, a cancer patient who took the opening face-off from Coyotes captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson as part of the club’s Hockey Fights Cancer affairs.
And they had some resurgent play in the defensive zone, led by a season-high 24 blocked shots in the win. Coyotes forwards Derek Stepan and Carl Soderberg both beat Flames goaltender David Rittich for goals, and winger Lawson Crouse added an empty-netter in the final seconds.
“One day at a time, though,” Stepan said. “I know it’s the worst thing to say and I know that you guys hate it. It honestly is true, but we enjoy this one, regroup ourselves and get ready for Monday. That’s our season and that’s what we live in.”