In Glendale, the Arizona Coyotes needed a big game from Antti Raanta and got one as the goalie made 30 saves to shutout the visiting Edmonton Oilers, 3-0, on Tuesday night.
Conor Garland opened the scoring for the Coyotes – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“We just needed to win, whether it was them (the Oilers) or [the] Anaheim [Ducks] or [the] Tampa Bay [Lightning] or whoever we were playing,” the Coyotes’ Taylor Hall said. “We needed to win, and that’s basically it.”
The Coyotes had lost five straight.
“That’s a good team over there,” Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl said. “They compete hard, and obviously they’re in a playoff race just as much as we are. We just really couldn’t get on the inside, couldn’t squeak one by.”
For Raanta, it was his second shutout of the season.
“Even though they have skillful guys, we pretty much kept them outside, they only got a couple of chances,” Raanta said. “When you can get a 3-0 win against that kind of offensive team, that’s really a credit to the whole team and how we defended.”
Lawson Crouse struck for a shorthanded goal in the win.
Conor Garland opened the scoring for the Coyotes.
“There wasn’t a whole lot off the rush, we were making them play in their own end,” Hall said. “As an offensive guy, when you have to come 200 feet every single shift to produce offense, it gets a little tiring. We played a great game, and [Raanta] was obviously stellar.”
Christian Dvorak added an empty net for the sealer on the final.
[WATCH: All Oilers vs. Coyotes highlights]
Mikko Koskinen made 24 saves in the loss.
“We did not have much juice today,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said. “I was worried about that yesterday, today, this morning, before the game. We just finished three real emotional, hard games. You could tell we did not have much in the tank.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.