The Coyotes came from behind with two third-period goals and Karel Vejmelka stopped 33 shots as Arizona beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Monday in Tempe, Ariz.
Jakob Chychrun’s second goal of the night tied the game just before the midway mark of the third period, and Jack McBain put the Coyotes ahead with 6:47 remaining.
Just 1:40 into the third period of a 1-1 contest, Minnesota defenseman Jonas Brodin picked up a long rebound of Joel Eriksson Ek’s shot, found an opening and sent the puck past Vejmelka to put the visitors ahead.
The Coyotes answered with 10:25 remaining in regulation when Chychrun sent a shot from the circle past Minnesota’s Marc-Andre Fleury (33 saves) for his first multi-goal game of the season.
Less than four minutes later, McBain found himself on a breakaway, then went forehand-backhand to flip the puck over Fleury.
Arizona killed a Minnesota power play in the final 2:34, thanks mostly to Vejmelka, who was on top of his game while stopping 15 of 16 shots in the third to help the hosts win in their return from the All-Star break and improve to 3-1-1 in the past five.
Kirill Kaprizov scored his 28th goal of the season for Minnesota, which had won two straight prior to the break. The Wild saw their season-high road losing streak extend to four in a row.
Minnesota held a whopping 14-5 shots-on-goal advantage through the opening 20 minutes, but the teams went into the first intermission scoreless.
The Coyotes hit the iron three times while recording eight of the first nine shots on goal in the second period, but it was the Wild who scored on their first attempt of the middle frame.
At 3:39 of the second, Kaprizov, who started the play, got it back via a cross-slot pass from Mats Zuccarello to successfully one-time the puck.
Arizona managed to level the contest on its fourth power-play chance of the night when Chychrun, alone in the slot, drove the puck over Fleury’s glove with 10:34 remaining in the second.
–Field Level Media
