Starting from February 8th to today, the Arizona Coyotes have finally been putting things together and earned themselves their first 4 game winning streak and accumulating 10 points in 6 games during that streak. It’s their first 4 game winning streak since 2016 and it’s time to take a recap of their season record-setting success.
Starting from February 8th the Coyotes were off in the State of Hockey to face the Minnesota Wild. Things seemed to go in favor of the Wild in every aspect of this game as the Wild managed to score 3 goals from Eric Staal, Matt Cullen, Mike Reilly, but something must’ve been said on the bench as the Coyotes managed to score in the 2nd period with a goal from Nick Cousins to cut their deficit to 3-1. With the 3rd period now underway, red-hot defenseman Kevin Connauton scored to make it 3-2. With the final seconds of the game dying down, the Coyotes had to pull goalie Antti Raanta to give them a man advantage. With 19 seconds left, the Coyotes managed to put one home with another goal from Nick Cousins to tie the game at 3. The Coyotes would force overtime where rookie sensation, Clayton Keller sniped one top shelf to beat Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk. The Coyotes would complete the comeback and win 4-3/OT. The Coyotes would return home for a match against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Coyotes got on the board early with a goal from Jason Demers to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead. The Flyers would answer back with a goal from Claude Giroux to tie the game at 1. The Flyers would score again with a goal from Michael Raffl to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. That would conclude the 1st period. With the 2nd period now starting, the Coyotes would score just :24 seconds into the period with a goal from Alex Goligoski to tie the game at 2. With a little over a minute gone by, the Flyers would recapture the lead with a redirected goal from Wayne Simmonds. The Coyotes would answer back again with a goal from Zac Rinaldo to tie the game at 3. The game would require overtime, but no goals were scored, so it was off to the shootout. Ex-Flyer Nick Cousins would score for the Coyotes in the shootout, but so would Jakub Voracek and Nolan Patrick for the Flyers and give them the 4-3/SO win. The Coyotes would take a point in this hard-fought battle, but would move onto the next one against the Chicago Blackhawks at home.
The Blackhawks are having one of the most disappointing seasons as they are sitting dead last in the Central Divison and are nowhere near a playoff spot for the first time in years. Antti Raanta would be the starter once again and Anton Forsberg would start for Chicago. The Coyotes would get off to a quick lead with a goal from Max Domi to give the Coyotes an early 1-0 lead. Just 8 minutes later, Clayton Keller would score to make it 2-0 Coyotes. Chicago would cut into the deficit to make it 2-1 with a goal from Alex DeBrincat. The Coyotes would get a lucky goal from Alex Goligoski as he shot an unsuspected shot past Forsberg to make it 3-1 Coyotes. This would be the turning point in the game and it would be the end of Forsberg’s night as he allowed 3 goals on 13 shots. Jeff Glass would take over for Forsberg, but it didn’t change anything as the Coyotes got right back to it and scored another goal from Tobias Rieder on the powerplay. Just 2 minutes later, Nick Cousins would redirect a shot from Alex Goligoski to make it 5-1 Coyotes. With a little under 5 minutes left in the game Coyotes’ Christian Dvorak would snipe one top shelf to make it 6-1 Coyotes. That would conclude the scoring for this game. A dominating victory that shows the Coyotes’ offense coming together. Players are starting to find their chemistry and convert on amazing chances. Antti Raanta is starting to find his game and be more consistent. The Coyotes were immediately back to work in another back-to-back situation in San Jose to face the Sharks.
Red-hot Kevin Connauton scored again to make it 1-0 Coyotes. Mikkel Boedker from the Sharks would score just a minute later to tie the game at 1. Half way through the 2nd period, Alex Goligoski would score a powerplay goal to give the Coyotes a 2-1 lead. The rest of the game would be all goalie Scott Wedgewood as he shut down the Sharks stopping 40-41 shots and securing another Coyotes win. That would be the end of this game and the Coyotes would grab another 2 points.
The Coyotes would then return home to face the Montreal Canadiens. Clayton Keller would score the only goal in the 1st period to give the Yotes a 1-0 lead. Come the 2nd period, Coyote’s forward Brendan Perlini would score 2 goals in 19 seconds to give the Coyotes a 3-0 lead. By this time in the game, the Canadiens had had enough and began their dramatic comeback with 2 goals coming from Brendan Gallagher and Daniel Carr to cut the score to 3-2. Something must’ve been said to spark the Coyotes’ bench, because the Yotes would take advantage of another powerplay and score with a goal from Tobias Rieder, who received an amazing cross-ice pass from Clayton Keller and easily tapped it in on the back door. With 4 minutes left, Coyotes’ Josh Archibald backhanded one past Carey Price and that would conclude the game, giving the Coyotes a 5-2 victory. Clayton Keller had himself a night as he notched a goal and 3 assists for a total of 4 points in a single game, tying a record for most points in a game as a Coyotes rookie. After the game he mentioned that the, “powerplay was clicking.” Clearly the powerplay has been a cause of their recent success. Raanta was solid once again stopping 34 out of 36 shots. The Coyotes now have points in their last 5 games.
The next matchup would be against the Edmonton Oilers at home. The Coyotes would get right back into their scoring groove just 3 minutes in with a tip-in from Christian Dvorak giving the Coyotes a 1-0 lead. That would conclude the scoring, but in the 3rd period, Oilers’ Patrick Maroon would score a similar goal like the Dvorak goal in the first, but it was ruled as goalie interference and the Coyotes would secure their 1-0 lead. The Coyotes would hold on for the shutout win and Antti Raanta would get his first shutout win as a member of the Coyotes. This would be the first 4-game winning streak since 2016, but head coach Rick Tocchet wants his group to know the how to “navigate the fine line between swagger and cockiness,” Tocchet said before the game against Edmonton.
With the recent success on the powerplay, scoring 4 powerplay goals in 3 games the offenses has been clicking. Antti Raanta has been lights out stopping 175 out of 185 shots on goal only allowing 10 goals in 6 games. He ranks 13th in the league in save percentage as he has a .924 save percentage and ranks 7th in the league in goals allowed average as he has a 2.45 goals allowed average.
Is this the team fans thought they would see? Is this the beginning of what fans will see in the future? Can the Coyotes continue their streak to 5 games or more?
