Coyotes take hot streak into a busy weekend
Perseverance and grit have carried the Arizona Coyotes recently. They have hung tough with opponents scattered across the league standings over the past seven games, earning points in each and posting a 4-0-3 record.
Their most recent outing on Wednesday night wasn’t any different, even against last year’s Stanley Cup finalists. Goaltender Connor Ingram and the Coyotes defense put on a master class with 47 saves in a 1-0 shootout win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Mullett Arena.
The All-Star break and bye week rejuvenated the Coyotes in the second half of the season. With the draft lottery in mind and a chance to bring in a gamechanging talent from this year’s draft class, the Coyotes (19-28-8) have bumped up to the 5th-worst record in the NHL.
“The break was good for us and we had a crazy schedule and guys were pretty run down,” Coyotes forward Clayton Keller said. “We got a good burst of energy there over the break and I’m sure our GM is not too happy about it.”
The Coyotes now enter a new stretch of challenges, including back-to-back games this weekend at the Kings on Saturday night, then the Columbus Blue Jackets back home on Sunday.
One for the books
Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny immediately pointed to goaltending as the driving force behind the recent hot streak. With Karel Vejmelka taking the night off following a win in Nashville on Monday, Ingram picked up from where Vejmelka left off.
The Lightning certainly made Ingram work for his first NHL shutout, turning away high-quality chances from the likes of Steven Stamkos and Vladislav Namestnikov. The Lightning held a considerable edge over the Coyotes and had five power play opportunities that generated more chances against Ingram. He continued his spectacular play in overtime and was in step with each opportunity.
“That’s why we have an intensity, a commitment defensively,” Tourigny said. “Even if they had a lot of opportunities, we battled hard and we come back quick and fight in front of our net. It’s nothing free. We put our opponent through adversity in our zone even if they are a good team and can make plays. We’re there, we’re around, we stay on puck and around the puck. We’re tough to play against.”
His 47 saves mark the most ever from an NHL netminder in their first career regular-season shutout. The previous recordholder was Vejmelka, who earned that honor last season with 46 saves on Nov. 29, 2021.
Good vision
By the time the game had eclipsed 12 minutes in the second period, the Lightning had three times the number of shots on goal than the Coyotes but the game was still scoreless. The Lightning outshot the Coyotes 47-26 and had all five shots in the overtime period.
The Lightning generated 12 shots through five power play chances, but all were turned away.
What has made the difference for the goaltending was the defense's ability to give the goaltender's clear vision on every scoring chance.
“I don’t think there was anything today that I didn’t see,” Ingram said. “In the NHL, with guys this good and people like this, if you see it, you got a good chance to get in front of it. That’s the biggest thing is that they’re doing a great job of keeping guys away from front of the net and that makes our job a lot easier.”
Mixing it up
Developments around the team for the upcoming trade deadline on March 3 and injuries have rearranged the defense over the last few weeks. Jakob Chychrun was scratched for the third game in a row for trade related reasons. Shayne Gostisbehere has been out since Jan. 24 with an upper body injury.
Even without the two top contributors, the Coyotes fared well with Victor Soderstrom earning minutes with Josh Brown and Juuso Valimaki playing with Troy Stecher. Brown and Valimaki had two blocked shots each, while J.J. Moser led all defensemen with four hits.