In Tempe, home ice, wherever it is, is a good thing for the Coyotes these days. 
On Friday night, Sebastian Aho and Matthew Barzal scored for the New York Islanders in the fist period to give them a 2-0 lead.
You know where this is going.
The Coyotes rallied for three straight to take a 3-2 lead before trading goals with the Isles in a 5-4 win.
Clayton Keller hit for a double for the Coyotes.
“I talk about him every day,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said of Keller, who has five goals in three games. “Every week he gets better. He’s a little more competitive. … He’s a student of the game, he’s passionate and he’s a learner.”
Keller and Nick Bjugstad scored 41 seconds apart in the third period to ice the win for Arizona.
Karel Vejmelka made 30 saves in the Arizona win.
The Coyotes improved to 10-14-4.
Arizona cut into the Isles lead late in the first period when Shayne Gostisbehere scored to make it 2-1 at 19:16.
“That goal late in the period, at the end of the penalty kill, shifted momentum a little bit,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “We have to be better. We have to find a way to get it back.”
Keller erased the advantage the Isles held with a goal at 8:55 of the middle frame.
“I thought our start was a little sloppy. We didn’t do what we talked about and that’s get the puck behind them and force them to make plays,” Arizona’s Nick Schmaltz said. “But we got a good goal there at the end of the first and kind of kept it rolling in the second.”
New York dropped to 17-13-1.
“We’ve got to turn that around, but if I had to put my finger on one thing that hasn’t gone right in that stretch, I don’t know what it could be,” forward Zach Parise said.
The Isles are 2-5-1 in their last eight.
With the Isles having no offense through the first half of the the second period, they were outshot 10-0, Bjugstad hit for a goal at 9:08 to give the Coyotes a 3-2 lead.
New York finally got something going when Noah Dobson scored in the 18th minute of the second to tie it, 3-3.
“We weren’t very sharp and didn’t really have much possession or attack in our game to start the second,” Islanders forward Brock Nelson said. “I’m not too sure what to pinpoint exactly.”
The Coyotes grabbed a two-goal lead in the third on strikes from Travis Boyd and Keller for a 5-3 advantage.
“I mean, good things happen when you shoot the puck,” said Schmaltz. “We’re shooting the puck a little bit more. Some nights they go in and some nights they don’t but, the more you shoot, the better chance you have to score goals.”
The Isles’ Anthony Beauvillier scored at 18:21 for the 5-4 final.
Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves in the Isles loss.
Special teams have gone dark on the Islanders, they were scoreless in five chances on Friday night, and are scoreless in the last 11 chances.
“I’m extremely disappointed with the fact that we didn’t produce,” Lambert said. “We generated some shots, but we needed a goal there.”


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