In Glendale Saturday, the Arizona Coyotes’ Antti Raanta made 39 saves to backstop the Yotes to a 1-0 shutout of the Edmonton Oilers.
“It’s always special,” Raanta said. “When the team is playing like that, when you only need to make the first save and the guys are making sure that there are no rebounds, it makes your life a little easier. You never get the shutouts by yourself.”
Christian Dvorak scored in the first period for the early lead and Raanta made it stand up for the Coyotes fourth straight win.
“He’s (Raanta) really kind of dug in here the last six weeks,” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said after the game of his goalie.
Where has this Coyotes team been all season; they are 5-0-1 in their last six games.
The win pushed Arizona to 17-32-10 and while they are going nowhere this post season, they are playing with more heart than other clubs with better records.
The Oilers are one of those clubs who just cannot seem to get out of their own this season. They dropped their sixth straight after getting tantalizingly close to .500 hockey.
“The way we’re sitting right now is frustrating,” the Oilers’ Patrick Maroon said. “We’re thinking about it and it’s always in the back of our head. I think we’re a better team than [how] we’re playing right now.”
They dropped to 23-30-4 with the loss and are 19 points back of a playoff spot.
WATCH: All Oilers vs. Coyotes highlights]
Cam Talbot made 31 saves in taking the loss.
“We’re going through some hard times right now. Everyone sees it. It’s the guys in the room. It’s no one else’s fault,” Maroon said after the loss.
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