Coyotes beat Blackhawks 4-2, push points streak to 8

The Canadian Press

March 19, 2023, 1:21 a.m.·3 min read

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Juuso Valimaki broke a tie with 3:12 left and the Arizona Coyotes beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Saturday night.

Valimaki also assisted on Arizona's first two goals to help the Coyotes extend their points streak to eight games.

Clayton Keller scored his 32nd goal of the season to tie it six minutes into the third period. Keller also had two assists, giving him 43 for the season.

Barrett Hayton connected for Arizona in the second period, and Matias Maccelli scored into an empty net with 38.3 seconds to go.

Ivan Prosvetov, making his third start of the season, stopped 32 shots for Arizona to improve to 3-0. The Coyotes have won four straight, all at home, and are 20-11-3 at Mullett Arena.

The Blackhawks, though last in the Central Division, were coming off wins at home against league-leading Boston on Tuesday night and at Nashville on Thursday night.

Chicago took a 2-1 lead at 4:14 of the third on Caleb Jones' power-play goal.

Chicago’s efforts to defuse the home-ice edge paid off quickly, as the Blackhawks scored 35 seconds into the game. Jujhar Khaira tipped in a shot by Jarred Tinordi for his fourth goal of the season. The Coyotes tied it with 2:12 left in the second period on Hayton's 14th goal.

Alex Stalock made 17 saves for Chicago.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB

Chicago defenseman Wyatt Kaiser made his NHL debut Saturday night.

The 20-year-old signed a three-year entry-level contract earlier this week. A third-round pick in 2020, Kaiser played as a junior this season at Minnesota-Duluth.

ICE CHIPS

Blackhawks: LW Andreas Englund (hamstring) missed his sixth straight game. ... RW Cole Guttman had right shoulder surgery earlier this week.

Coyotes: RW Nick Schmaltz returned after missing three games with an upper-body injury. ... D Josh Brown missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. ... G Karel Vejmelka didn’t dress for the game as Arizona wanted to get ice time for Prosvetov.

Blackhawks: At Colorado Monday.

Coyotes: At Winnipeg Tuesday. ___

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Both teams have played well of late even as they are in rebuilding mode — especially since unloading some of their best players just before the trade deadline earlier this month.

Coyotes 19-11-3 at Mullett Arena

Arizona has won three in a row, all at home, and has a seven-game points streak entering Saturday.

The Blackhawks, though last in the Central Division, are coming off wins at home against league-leading Boston Tuesday and then at Nashville Thursday.

Chicago’s efforts to defuse the home-ice edge paid off quickly, as the Blackhawks scored 35 seconds into the game. Jujhar Khaira tipped in a shot by Jarred Tinordi for his fourth goal of the season. Boris Katchouk got the other assist. Chicago outshot Arizona 12-7 in the period and each team killed off one penalty.

The Coyotes finally tied it at 17:48 of the second period when Hayton scored his 14th goal, beating Stalock to the short side. Clayton Keller and Juunu Valimaki assisted — it was Keller’s 42nd assist of the season.