Emotional Coyotes rally to beat Blues

The Arizona Coyotes spent the minutes before their first game after a long road trip fighting back tears.

The emotion of watching Leighton Accard, a 9yearold girl who died of cancer on Nov. 24 and had formed a strong bond with the Coyotes over the past couple years, get inducted into the team’s ring of honor seemed to take a toll on the ice during a sluggish first period.

Once they shook it off, the Coyotes leaned on some of the tenacity Accard showed in her fight to pull out a big win. Darcy Kuemper stopped 20 shots in his return to the lineup and the Coyotes fought through an emotional afternoon, rallying from a twogoal deficit to beat the St. Louis Blues 32 on Saturday.

“She inspired us in so many ways and we really didn’t need to talk about it because everybody knew who we were playing for tonight,” Kuemper said. “Sometimes the games, even as important as this one is, it’s a little bit bigger than hockey. We just wanted to go out and make her proud.”

The Coyotes ended a fivegame losing streak and moved a point ahead of the Blues in the race for the West Division’s final playoff spot.

Stars 5, Blue Jackets 1: Former Sharks captain Joe Pavelski scored his teamhigh 18th goal of the season as one of five Dallas players with a goal and an assist against visiting Columbus.

Oilers 3, Jets 0: Mike Smith stopped 26 shots in his third shutout of the season for visiting Edmonton, which moved to three points behind second-place Winnipeg in the North Division.

Rangers 6, Devils 3: Pavel Buchnevich celebrated his 26th birthday with his first career hat trick and host New York beat its Hudson River rivals for the third time in five days. The victory extended the Rangers’ point streak to a season-high five games and move them to four points behind Boston in the race for the last playoff berth in the East.

Capitals 6, Flyers 3: In Philadelphia, Alex Ovechkin scored twice to move within one goal of Marcel Dionne (731) for fifth place on the NHL’s career goals list and John Carlson had four assists as Washington increased its lead in the East to four points over the Islanders.

Panthers 5, Lightning 3: Brandon Montour, Patric Hornqvist and Jonathan Huberdeau scored in the first period, and visiting Florida jumped one point ahead of Tampa Bay for second in the Central.

Penguins 3, Sabres 2: Tristan Jarry stopped 27 shots as Pittsburgh stayed three points behind the Washington and eliminated host Buffalo from playoff contention.

Hurricanes 3, Predators 1: Jani Hakanpaa, a defenseman acquired Monday from Anaheim, scored his first goal with host Carolina to break a tie in the third period.

Blackhawks 4, Red Wings 0: Malcolm Subban made 29 saves for his second shutout of the season for visiting Chicago.

Senators 4, Canadiens 0: In Montreal, Matt Murray made 23 saves in his first shutout of the season and Drake Batherson had two goals and an assist for last-place Ottawa.