In Nashville Thursday night, the Arizona Coyotes’ Adin Hill earned his first NHL shutout with a 3-0 win over the Predators; he made 29 saves on the night.
Hill got the start with both Antti Raanta and Darcy Kuemper out with injuries.
“It was exciting finding out I was starting here in Nashville,” Hill said. “Electric crowd here, a great hockey city. The team had a wonderful game. It was awesome. We all dedicated ourselves to the game. The [defensemen] did a good job boxing guys out, clearing pucks when we had to, and the penalty kill did an outstanding job. It was an exciting game, an exciting win.”
Clayton Keller had a goal in win over Predators Thursday night – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Clayton Keller and Brad Richardson struck for Coyotes.
“For most of the game, I thought we did a nice job of puck management,” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said. “We executed the game plan. Against Nashville, you’ve got to really play a certain way because they’ve got some weapons over there, so I thought we did a nice job of putting pucks in areas and some chips. I thought it was one of our better games supporting the puck. It seemed like when a guy had the puck, he had an option. We didn’t have guys playing too wide. I thought we had good support all over the ice.”
The Coyotes improved to 11-11-2.
The Predators have lost three of four games and dropped to 17-8-1.
“They were faster than us,” Predators head coach Peter Laviolette said. “They wanted it more. We didn’t have enough guys with their hands on the rope pulling it our way. So that’s what we got.”
Nick Schmaltzscored his first goal with the Coyotes since coming over n a trade from Chicago.
“I thought we came out flying,” Schmaltz said. “We had some good looks there, and I thought we stuck with it throughout the game and didn’t get frustrated. We knew it was going to come at some point. We just kept working and got rewarded.”
[WATCH: All Coyotes vs. Predators highlights]
Pekka Rinne made 22 saves in the loss.
“I didn’t like the way we played. It was inconsistent. There wasn’t enough attack to the game. We made mistakes, they ended up in our net, and that seemed to get worse as the game went on. We’re capable of a better brand of hockey and hold ourselves to a higher standard of hockey, and that’s what we have to do,” Laviolettesaid.
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