Thursday 15 October 2015

{coyotes} Wild hold off Coyotes to remain perfect

 

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Zach Parise scored his NHL-leading fifth goal and the Minnesota Wild stayed perfect with their third win in as many games, a 4-3 victory against the previously unbeaten Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.

Playing in Arizona for the first time since being traded by the Coyotes in January, Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves and handed his old team its first loss in four games this season. It was his 100th NHL win.

Thomas Vanek, Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund also scored for the Wild, who have scored 12 goals in victories against the Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues and Coyotes. They play at the Los Angeles Kings on Friday.

Rookies Anthony Duclair and Max Domi continued their red-hot starts with a goal each for the Coyotes. Michael Stone made it a one-goal game by knocking a rebound past Dubnyk with 4:48 to play. But Arizona failed to score on seven power-play chances, four of them in the third period.

Of the 13 goals scored by Arizona in four games this season, eight have been scored by rookies; four by Duclair, three by Domi and one by forward Jordan Martinook.

Arizona goalie Mike Smith was pulled in the second period after allowing three goals on 17 shots. Smith had allowed two goals on 106 shots in the first three games, all wins in which the Coyotes never trailed, and Arizona had killed all 10 opposing power plays.

All that changed in a 58-second span of the first period.

With Boyd Gordon the penalty box for tripping, Jason Pominville deflected Ryan Suter's shot from the point over the net. But the puck caromed hard off the boards and into the right circle, where Parise was waiting, and he beat Smith with a backhander at 9:22. Parise, who had a hat trick against the Avalanche to open the season and a goal against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, is well ahead of his 33-goal pace last season.

At 10:20, Vanek took a Justin Fontaine pass on the rush down the right side and beat Smith high with a high wrist shot that went between the goaltender's shoulder and the near post. Vanek's second goal of the season capped a strong first period for the Wild, who drew three penalties and put 12 shots on Smith.

Koivu made 3-0 at 7:07, finishing off a Jason Zucker pass on a shorthanded break.

Duclair scored off a pretty backhand pass from Domi at 12:13 to get Arizona on the board. But Granlund, set up by Parise, answered 22 seconds later to make it 4-1.

Domi made it 4-2 at 19:50 on a superb individual play, winning a puck battle with Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon on the fly before beating Dubnyk between the pads from the slot. Arizona moved within a goal late in the third when Stone cleaned up the rebound of a Shane Doan shot just outside the crease.

The Coyotes lost center Antoine Vermette to a lower-body injury in the second period; he did not return.

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