In Glendale on Monday afternoon, Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves tgo lead the Arizona Coyotes to a 1-0 win over the St Louis Blues.
“Every game was tight,” Kuemper said. “We were able to pull it out, grind it out and it was a big win. Obviously it’s going to raise our game playing against them. It’s going to help us moving forward, and I thought we got better every game.”
The Coyotes improved to 7-6-2 and went 4-2-1 in the seven straight games the two clubs played.
”I think myself and the other guys have got to find a way to create some offense,” the Blues’ Ryan O’Reilly said. “I didn’t create anything, and that’s tough as the guy that sees a lot of ice. I wasn’t getting really good looks, and it’s tough.”
Clayton Keller scored the game’s only goal in the middle frame.
“It was a fun series, every game was tight and it almost had that playoff-like atmosphere,” Keller said. “They’re a great team over there, so I think this is a step in the right direction for us.”
St Louis went scoreless on two power play chances.
“I thought we did a good job of pressuring them,” Keller said. “Even after we got the lead, we did a good job of staying on them, forechecking, just playing the same way whether we were losing or winning.”
Arizona was held off the scoreboard on their four power plays.
“It was a 1-0 game, it was a mucking-type game and you’ve got to be able to close them out and we did,” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said. “Darcy never has a bad effort, he’s always there for us and he was again. … He was terrific.”
Jordan Binnington made 18 save in the loss.
“They’re a tough team to forecheck, their goalie played well and made the saves he had to,” the Blues’ Brayden Schenn said. “We worked hard, we competed, and I thought we deserved at least a goal. We just didn’t get the results with the goals.”
The two teams play each other one more time this season.
“I think we’re all ready to play somebody else,” Schenn said. “That’s enough. We can’t complain or be angry, we’re happy to be playing hockey but, at the same time, it’s going to be nice to play different opponents. We’re banged up, we’ve played some good games but we haven’t played our best hockey.”
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