The Arizona Coyotes are being true to their namesake. They are prowling the Pacific Division like a pack of coyotes in the desert and staying relevant.
They may not make much more noise than now, but Sunday night they handed the Maple Leafs a 4-2 loss, in Toronto.
Vinnie Hinostroza had game0winner in Toronto – file photo courtesy of Lewis Bleiman
Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves to get the win.
“Just by watching, you can see the commitment we’ve had to playing on top of teams, playing defensive and playing as a team, including tonight,” Kuemper said. “We’re having a lot of success doing it lately. We’re working hard so we just have to keep it going.”
Arizona improved to 22-22-4 and when everyone around is no better than .500 hockey you are still relevant.
Vinnie Hinostroza struck for the game-winner in the third period.
“All-around great play,” Hinostroza said. “We played simple, got the puck out, [Richard] Panik made a great play to [Derek] Stepan. I think we had a few chances before I got the rebound and threw it off the back of the goalie, so it was nice to contribute.”
Lawson Crouse and Clayton Keller also scored for the Coyotes who have won five of their seven matches.
“We played the right way. We came out a little bit slow, but when we settled down a little bit and stuck to our game plan, that’s when we got some chances and put some pucks in,” Keller said. “Anytime you get some momentum, you seem to play more simple, and I think we did that.”
Toronto got goals from Travis Dermott and John Tavares.
The Leafs dropped to 29-17-2.
“We just have to stay the course, stay with it and keep working through it,” Tavares said. “It’s not easy at times, but this is a great challenge of character and a great opportunity to find a way to figure it out and solve that puzzle of where we need to get to.”
Toronto is 1-4-0 in their five games.
“Big time proud. About a month ago, when things were going bad, we all got together and said we can go one way or the other,” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said. “We can turn it right or it’s going to be an awful year. Everybody’s bought in and our defense is really the heartbeat of our team. If they can hold us together back there, we usually can compete with most teams.”
[WATCH: All Coyotes vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Frederik Andersen made 27 saves in the loss.
“I think we’re going through some adversity as a team and we want to get out of it as soon as possible,” the Leafs’ Auston Matthews said after the game. “Hopefully in the long run this is something good for us and we learn from it. It just seems like night after night, it’s little things that are costing us goals and ending up costing us important points. For us, we need to be consistent for a full 60 minutes.”
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