In Columbus, the Arizona Coyotes scored twice midway through the third period, 28 seconds apart, to take a 3-1 lead on the Blue Jackets, on Thursday night.
Logan Cooley and Lawson Crouse were the strikers, and the Coyotes held off Columbus for a 3-2 win.
Cooley scored off the power play for a 2-1 lead to Arizona at 9:39.
“It’s a play I’ve been working on in practice, being more of shooter on that side and getting pucks to the net,” Cooley said. “I kind of felt like I was in the right position to get a quality shot. It was a heck of a screen by [Alex] Kerfoot too.”
Connor Ingram made 39 saves in the win.
Arizona improved to 8-6-2.
“The Blue Jackets started strong,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “They attacked us with their rush like we knew, came back in the game. That was a good, resilient game for us. Obviously, it was not a Picasso the way we played. At the end of the day, we have to be happy with the win.”
After a scoreless first period, Damon Severson scored the first of a double for the Blue Jackets at 1:45 of the middle frame for a 1-0 lead.
Columbus dropped to 4-9-4.
“I feel for our players right now, they’re working hard,” Columbus coach Pascal Vincent said. “They do so many good things that we forget after because of those little mistakes, and the first thing you know the puck is in the back of our net.”
Arizona tied it, 1-1, at 6:20 of the second on a strike by Barrett Hayton .
“When they got that second one there, they had a good push,” Cooley said. “We stayed with it. We stayed with our game plan, shut it down. A lot of our ‘D’ played a heck of a game too, put a lot of pressure on their forwards towards the end and got the win.”
Severson scored his double with less than two minutes left on the game clock for the 3-2 final.
“We’re close,” Severson said. “We shouldn’t have to come back like that, pull the goalie. It’s a 1-1 game in the third period. We have to keep it out of our net first and try to push for the next one. We were fortunate we got one. We were pressuring.
“I really thought we were going to get the next one but unfortunately, we couldn’t get the [tying goal] but overall, we’re not quite getting it done right now. It needs to get done and the sooner the better.”
Elvis Merzlikins made 29 saves in the loss.
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