This is not the time of the year to go cold.
The Calgary Flames are suddenly skating in slushie ice and have no lost four straight.
Their lead over the San Jose Sharks has shrunk to one point for the Pacific Division lead.
Darcy Kuemper got the shutout over Flames – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves for the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday in a 2-0 win over the Flames.
“There weren’t any passengers, everyone worked hard tonight and they played for each other,” said Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet.
The win eased a dismal effort in Anaheim in the previous match for Arizona.
“The message was we didn’t play great (against the Ducks), but we’ve done a lot of good things and let’s stay even keel. We didn’t get too down about it, everyone reset and you could see the effort tonight. Everyone was ready to work,” Kuemper said.
Kuemper is 8-1-0 in his last nine starts.
“He’s been unbelievable. He makes it look so easy, he’s always so calm,” Jakob Chychrun said. “He’s a calming presence back there and he’s going to make the saves he should make. That’s nice to rely on.”
The Coyotes improved to 33-29-5 and are three points back of a wild card spot in the west.
Chychrun and Clayton Keller were the strikers for the Yotes.
[WATCH: Flames vs. Coyotes highlights]
Mike Smith made 23 saves in the loss.
“Obviously, we don’t want to go on a slide where it’s two or three weeks and we’re not feeling good going into the playoffs,” Smith said. “We want to fix it now. There’s still spots in games where you need your best players to be your best players, but you need everyone to contribute.”
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