Coyotes Game 9 Recap: Coyotes beat Panthers 3-1

Lawson Crouse, Nick Ritchie, and Clayton Keller scored as the Arizona Coyotes won their first game at Mullett Arena.

Game Recap

After two solid efforts, the Arizona Coyotes finally put it all together and recorded their first win at Mullett Arena, beating the Florida Panthers 3-1.

The Coyotes continued their trend of decent start, they weren’t dominant, but they were keeping up. Unfortunately, they couldn’t convert on an early penalty to Anton Lundell, and their second power play later in the period didn’t look much better.

The Florida Panthers were able to build off their successful kills, and they were clawing their way back by the end of the period. They got their first power play with 50 seconds left in the opening frame, with Christian Fischer going off for interference.

The Panthers didn’t score before the period ended, and Sam Bennett and Troy Stecher did get coincidental minors for cross-checking and embellishment before the horn rang. It was a rough start, but the game remained scoreless.

Not long after killing the final seconds of the penalty, Christian Fischer would take his second penalty of the game, getting sent to the box for tripping. However, Arizona’s penalty kill stood tall, and the Panthers couldn’t score with the man advantage, but not much after Colin White redirected Josh Mahura’s shot over Karel Vejmelka’s shoulder.

The ice was starting to tilt in favor of the Panthers, but a penalty at the halfway mark would change things. Lawson Crouse drew the penalty and got the Coyotes on the board with his fourth goal of the season.

Matias Maccelli got the primary assist, with Dylan Guenther getting the secondary assist. The tally would be Guenther’s sixth point of the game and third assist in two games.

Vejmelka continued to come up with some big saves, and two-thirds of the way through, the score remained tied 1-1, with the Panthers outshooting the Coyotes 23-11.

But the Coyotes’ power play wasn’t done yet. After a solid start to the third, the Coyotes got another chance with the man advantage after Dylan Guenther drew a high-sticking call. Barrett Hayton had a few good looks in the first half of the power play, but it would be Nick Ritchie getting his fourth of the season to give the Desert Dogs a 2-1 lead.

Clayton Keller and J.J. Moser both recorded assists on the play, and the Coyotes had their first lead of the game.

Unfortunately, the Coyotes don’t like to make things easy on themselves. Twenty seconds after scoring the go-ahead goal, Jack McBain was sent to the box for cross-checking, and the Yotes needed to kill another penalty.

The penalty kill continued to stand tall, and Vejmelka made the saves he needed to, preserving the Coyotes’ one-goal lead.

Vejmelka had to come up big all game, and more than once, it looked like a shooting gallery on the Coyotes’ end, especially after the Panthers pulled Knight for the empty attacker. Florida came close to tying a few times, but Vejmelka was a brick wall, and the Coyotes lead remained intact.

The Coyotes would finally get the puck free, and Clayton Keller hit the empty net with 67 seconds left in the game. Christian Fischer and Patrik Nemeth recorded assists as the Coyotes recorded their first-ever win at Mullett Arena.

Lines

Three Stars

1. Clayton Keller – Goal and an assist
2. Nick Ritchie – Goal
3. Karel Vejmelka – 41 saves on 42 shots

Next Game

The Coyotes will play the final game of their four-game homestand this Thursday against the Dallas Stars at 7:00 pm.