With the myriad playoff calculations and who is still in the race and who can over take whom, it seems everyone in St Louis was rooting for the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night in an effort to defeat the Arizona Coyotes and keep them out of the playoffs.
In the end, Darcy Kuemper made 31 saves for Arizona and helped them defeat the Blackhawks, 1-0.
Darcy Kuemper got the shut out Tuesday night – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
The win puts the Coyotes in a tie for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.
“We didn’t give them anything off the rush, and that’s where they’re so dangerous,” Kuemper said. “They’re a good team, they’re going to create a little bit but we limited them. It was win by committee.”
The loss has the Hawks five points back of a playoff spot and they still have 12 points on the table.
“That’s pretty frustrating. We had a lot of good chances there, pushing the pace there in the third period and just couldn’t capitalize,” Dylan Sikura said. “It was tough to get shots through their layers of defense. They were doing a good job blocking shots and their goalie was pretty good.”
Chicago dropped to 33-33-10 with the loss.
“I thought the guys early were a little tight but as the game went on I could see the bench guys enjoying it,” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said. “It was a good kind of pressure and that’s what you want. This is good. You want the puck. You want to be in those situations.”
The Coyotes improved to 37-33-7 and snapped a five-game skid.
Nick Cousins scored the game’s only goal.
“There wasn’t much room out there. It wasn’t the prettiest of games … but that’s what it takes to win this time of the year,” Cousins said.
The Coyotes are home Friday and host the Vegas Golden Knights.
“Friday night is the most important Coyotes game in how many years, right?” Tocchet said. “This is something we’re looking forward to. This is a big, big game for us.”
[WATCH: All Blackhawks vs. Coyotes highlights]
Corey Crawford made 28 saves in the loss.
“[Cousins] cut to the middle, threw it off my shoulder and … the rebound came back and [the puck] kind of streaked through,” Crawford said. “It’s tough to give that up. We played so well. I think we deserved better but they played pretty well too.”
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