Kuemper, Keller lead Coyotes over Blues
Darcy Kuemper stopped 24 shots for his first shutout of the season, and Clayton Keller scored the game’s only goal to lead the Arizona Coyotes to a 1-0 win over the St. Louis Blues Monday afternoon at Gila River Arena.
Kuemper, who has won three of his last four starts, recorded his 19th career NHL shutout and first since November of 2019. The Blues removed goalie Jordan Binnington for an extra attacker with just over a minute to play, but the Coyotes were able to hold on.
Arizona (7-6-2) won the unprecedented playoffstyle seven-game series with the Blues, four games to three. The original four games scheduled against each other this month turned into seven in a row, four in St. Louis and three in Glendale, after COVID-related postponements of games against common opponents.
The Coyotes, who’d lost the previous two games with one going to overtime on Saturday, are scheduled to play the Blues (9-5-2) once more this season.
“Every game was tight. We came into this one, Game 7 if you will, and were able to pull it out, grind it out,” Kuemper said. “They’re a great team over there, so obviously it’s going to raise our game playing against them. To go out there and play seven games in a row against a team like that is going to help us moving forward.”
The Coyotes had one quality chance to score in what was a scoreless first period. Derick Brassard, who has gone seven straight games without registering a point, saw his wraparound attempt bounce off Binnington’s shoulder, and the puck rolled off his pads and was cleared away.
Keller scored at 5:21 of the second period when Nick Schmaltz kept the puck in the offensive zone and passed to his linemate for the assist. It was Keller’s fifth goal of the season and 15th point in 18 career games against his hometown team, the Blues.
Schmaltz raised his assist total to seven.
“Schmaltzy’s over the top, makes an unbelievable play to me and it’s good to see one go in the back of the net there,” Keller said. “Had a lot of shots the last game. I kind of just stuck with it, picked my spot and shot it as hard as I can and it went in.”
Vince Dunn and Conor Garland hit goal posts with shots for each team in the second period. Garland had a good look off a pass from Oliver Ekman-Larsson into open ice, but just missed.
The Coyotes’ defense kept Kuemper from seeing a high volume of shots. Defensemen blocked 10 shots, with three each for Jakob Chychrun and Alex Goligoski, who both overcame in-game injuries and continued to play.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson blocked two shots and got into a scrap with the Blues’ Torey Krug near the Coyotes’ net in the second period, which saw the Coyotes kill off both a 5-on-4 and a 5on-3 situation. Ekman-Larsson, Goligoski and Chychrun each had more than 20 minutes of ice time.
The Coyotes allowed only three Blues’ shots in the third period.
“I liked the way we defended all series. This is a hard team. They won the (Stanley) Cup two years ago, they’re going to get chances,” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said. “To defend that team in seven games, it’s hard to do, and I’ve got to give our guys a lot of credit. I’m proud of the guys the way they handled these seven games.”
Forward Johan Larsson served the second and last game of his leaguemandated suspension for an illegal check. Defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson could return from an upper body injury as soon as Thursday when the Coyotes play next, and forward John Hayden played Monday after missing the team’s last two games while on the NHL’s COVID protocols-related absence list.
Hayden logged a team-high five of the Coyotes’ 30 hits delivered in the game.
Save of the game
Kuemper said a late 2-on-1 shot he saved was one that stood out for him. “The d-man did a great job of giving me a good chance to make an easy read so I could get most of my body over there,” Kuemper said.
Three Stars
Third star: Binnington, who faced just 19 shots and stopped 18. He came up big several times for the Blues to give them a chance.
Second star: Keller. When he scores a goal, the Coyotes are 23-4-3 since the 2018-19 season, and he has 14 points in his last 15 home games.
First star: Kuemper.
Up Next
The Coyotes continue their longest homestand of the season, 11 games, on Thursday night when they face the Los Angeles Kings for the first time in 2021. The Kings entered Monday tied for last place in the West Division.