In Edmonton, the Arizona Coyotes built a 4-1 lead on the Nashville Predators and then had to hold on for a tight 4-3 win in Sunday’s opening match of the day in the NHL’s qualifying series.
“We’re kind of a quiet team but this is the loudest I’ve ever heard our team as coach (since 2017-18),” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said. “They were chirping each other, getting into the game. That’s what you need. You need to rely on your team to give you that juice (without fans).
“There’s highs and lows in the playoffs. You can be happy we won but it’s more like an even keel for me right now.”
Darcy Kuemper made 40 saves for for the Coyotes in the win.
“I think the guys are pumped,” Michael Grabner.said. “It’s nice to get out to a start like this. It’s big to get the first one out of the way and now we can focus on the next one and I think we got a lot of great efforts today from a lot of guys. It’s going to have to carry over to the next game.”
Arizona’s strikers were Christian Dvorak, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Clayton Keller, and Grabner.
“[Kuemper] gives us a ton of confidence back there,” Keller said. “He’s been our best player all year and he’s going to continue to do his thing. He’s going to be huge moving forward.”
The Coyotes had a 3-0 lead before Filip Forsberg scored the first of his two goals on the day.
“That was a big start for us,” Grabner said. “If you get a goal like that it gives us momentum and we’ll take any bounces we can get in the game and the series.”
Ryan Ellis popped a goal in the third period to get the Predators to 2-3 deficit.
Game two of the series is set for Wednesday.
[WATCH: All Coyotes vs. Predators highlights]
Juuse Saros got the start for the Preds and made 33 saves in the loss.
“I can’t answer (who will start Game 2) but I liked his game,” Predators head coach John Hynes said. “He had some situations where I thought he stayed mentally focused. He had some big saves throughout the game.
“We make sure that we treat all our players honestly and direct. [Pekka] is no different.”
Pekka Rinne’s 89-game start streak was napped.