Coyotes stay hot with road win over Ducks

Lane Pederson scored in his NHL debut and Phil Kessel added the game winner with just under eight minutes remaining as the Arizona Coyotes defeated the host Anaheim Ducks 4-2 on Friday for their fifth victory in their last seven games.

Johan Larsson and Nick Schmaltz also scored goals for Arizona and goaltender Adin Hill had 27 saves as the Coyotes won two days after a lopsided 9-3 defeat to the Colorado Avalanche.

Kessel’s go-ahead goal in the third period, his 15th of the season, came when his centering pass rebounded off the Ducks’ Alexander Volkov and into the goal.

The Coyotes moved into sole possession of fourth place in the West Division after the St. Louis Blues lost to the Avalanche. The top four teams in each division make the playoffs.

Volkov scored a goal in his Ducks debut, while Jakob Silfverberg also found the back of the net for Anaheim, which has lost five times in its last seven games.

Playing without No. 1 goaltender John Gibson for the second consecutive game because of an upper-body injury, Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves in his second start of the season.

The Ducks took a 1-0 lead at 16:06 of the opening period when Max Comtois found Volkov with a cross-ice pass. Volkov’s fourth of the season came nine days after he was traded from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Coyotes responded quickly as Johan Larsson scored less than three minutes later when he moved in on goal from the right side and flipped a shot over Stolarz’s left shoulder, his fifth.

Silfverberg gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead 4:28 into the second period when he skated into a rebound off the boards behind the Coyotes goal and redirected the puck on goal with his right leg. The goal was upheld on replay for Silfverberg’s seventh of the season.

The Coyotes tied it 2-2 at 10:47 of the second period when Pederson scored from out front after the puck took an unexpected bounce from the left corner.

Schmaltz scored an insurance goal, his ninth, with just over three minutes to play getting his shot through traffic and past Stolarz.

–Field Level Media

source: reuters.com