In Tempe, Clayton Keller scored at 12:06 of the third period to knot the Coyotes’ game with the Minnesota Wild, 4-4, and help the send the match to extra time.
In the extra session Keller completed a double with the game-winner at 4:09 of the session for a 5-4 win to Arizona.
“[The comeback] shows the kind of guys we have in here,” Keller said. “When things happen, you’ve just got to stick with it and go shift by shift and just be patient. I think our team, and myself, did a good job with that.”
The Coyotes had trailed by a 4-2 count in the middle frame, but Brett Ritchie scored to send the game to the third, with the Wild lead trimmed to 4-3.
Karel Vejmelka made 30 saves in the Coyotes win.
Arizona improved to 24-32-11.
Barrett Hayton‘s first of two goals on the night, gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead with 88 seconds gone in the first period.
Mats Zuccarello tied it, 1-1, for the Wild at 5:32.
Hayton then put the Coyotes back in front, 2-1, off the power play.
“We were loose [defensively]. We’ve got to dial it back in a little bit,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “Regardless of how well we think we played defensively, we still gave up too many goals. It’s awesome that we’re scoring some goals, but we got to keep it out of the net.”
Minnesota dropped to 38-21-8 but extended their point streak to 10-0-3.
“We’re finding ways to get points, and that’s huge,” the Wild’s Mason Shaw said. “Obviously, we wanted to finish with two [points] here tonight, but [the] feeling of this locker room is really good. We’ve got a good thing going, and we’re not going to stop any time soon.”
Ryan Reaves tied the game, 2-2, late in the first period for the Wild.
In the middle frame, the Wild scored twice for a 4-2 lead, with Matt Boldy hitting off a breakaway to make it 3-2, and Connor Dewar pushing the lead out to 4-2 at 14:59, before the Coyotes rallied.
“We know we’re rebuilding,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “But every day we show up at the rink. You show up with a purpose and want to fight and want to build a culture.Tonight we took a good step in the right direction.”
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Filip Gustavsson made 18 saves in the loss.
“It was hard to get a rhythm going against them. … They don’t shoot too much, they’re waiting for the right opportunity and then there’s not a lot of shots,” Gustavsson said.
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