Kuemper, Coyotes hold off Predators

Darcy Kuemper had a career high 44 saves and the Coyotes held off the Western Conference-leading Nashville Predators 2-1 on Thursday night.

Kuemper, starting in place of injured No. 1 goaltender Antti Raanta, kept a shutout going until Nick Bonino scored with 7:51 to play.

The Coyotes (9-8-1) got goals from Michael Grabner and Jason Demers in their second win in six games. Arizona played the first of five straight home games after going 4-1 in its previous five-game homestand.

Demers left with an apparent leg injury with 37.1 seconds to play after crashing into his own net.

Nashville (13-5-1) finished a fivegame road trip – which included three games against Pacific Division teams – with five points, but lost its third straight. Pekka Rinne stopped 21 shots.

The Predators’ Kyle Turris hit a post at the 12:22 mark of the third period. Nashville took out Rinne for an extra attacker inside of two minutes to play.

The Coyotes scored their NHL-best 10th short-handed goal at 7:16 of the first period. Grabner had open ice on a power-play clearance and scored from just in front of the blue line to give Arizona a 1-0 lead.

Four of Grabner’s five goals this season have been short-handed, and he leads the league in that category. Grabner has 19 short-handed goals since 2010, second only to the 23 for Brad Marchand of Boston.

Demers put a wrist shot past Rinne on the goaltender’s stick side for a 2-0 Coyotes lead at 4:09 of the second period.

The Predators were 0 for 5 on the man advantage for their third consecutive game without a power-play goal.