Coyotes score 4 straight to top Wild in OT
Published 7:59 am Friday, February 9, 2018
ST. PAUL — Clayton Keller scored Arizona’s fourth straight goal at 3:55 of overtime to give the Coyotes a 4-3 comeback victory over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.
Nick Cousins scored twice for Arizona, which entered the game with the worst record in the NHL. Cousins’ second goal tied it with 18.3 seconds remaining in regulation after Arizona pulled goalie Antti Raanta for an extra attacker.
Kevin Connaughton also scored, and Raanta stopped 25 shots.
Eric Staal, Matt Cullen and Mike Reilly scored to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead, and Devan Dubnyk made 37 saves.
Staal opened the scoring with 2:47 to play in the first period with his team-leading 24th goal. Staal fired a pass from Jared Spurgeon top shelf past Raanta.
Cullen, the Wild’s 41-year-old forward, made it 2-0 early in the second period on a breakaway.
The Wild were without defenseman Jonas Brodin on Thursday after Brodin suffered a broken hand Tuesday against St. Louis. In Brodin’s absences, Minnesota’s young defenseman such as Reilly and Gustav Olofsson will have a chance to gain some additional ice time.
Reilly took advantage Thursday, scoring his first goal of the season and just the third of his NHL career. Reilly grabbed a loose puck out of the air and set it on the ice before firing from the faceoff circle past Raanta.
Arizona clawed back with three unanswered goals in regulation. Cousins buried a cross-ice pass from Alex Goligoski for the Coyotes’ first goal late midway through the second period.
NOTES: Minnesota made a trade Thursday, acquiring defenseman Viktor Loov from the New Jersey Devils. The Wild sent forwards Christoph Bertschy and Mario Lucia to New Jersey in exchange for Loov. … Coyotes D Oliver Ekman-Larsson was a minus-1 in Thursday’s loss and is now a league-worst minus-41 on the season.