TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Juuso Valimaki broke a tie with 3-12 left and the Arizona Coyotes defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Saturday night.
Valimaki also assisted on Arizona’s first two goals to help the Coyotes extend their scoring streak to eight games.
Clayton Keller scored his 32nd goal of the season to equalize six minutes into the third period. Keller also had two assists, giving him 43 for the season. He has scored in eight straight games.
Barrett Hayton – who has points in each of his last seven games – scored in the second half for Arizona, and Matias Maccelli found an empty net with 38.3 seconds remaining.
“It’s not always pretty, but when you’re confident like we are now, we found a way,” said Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny.
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 games, all at home, and are 20-11-3 at Mullett Arena.
“There’s no secret, the whole team is playing very well,” said Prosvetov about his record. “I definitely put some work into it over the summer and still do.”
“My first few games were good, but I couldn’t control some of the rebounds. I saw the puck better and caused chaos in front of the net.”
Valimaki’s goal was only his third of the season. He has 28 assists, behind only Keller and Maccelli in Arizona.
“I saw a penalty coming and just made a pass and broke through,” the defender said of the go-ahead goal. “Some of these plays these guys are making right now, it’s incredible. Suddenly the puck was on my racquet and went in.
“We’re a really tight group. It’s really fun right now. Everyone’s playing really well and we’re pretty confident in our game.”
The Blackhawks, though last in the Central Division, won at home to league leaders Boston on Tuesday night and in Nashville on Thursday night.
“I thought we ran pretty well, similar to how we’ve been playing lately,” said Chicago coach Luke Richardson. “We didn’t make many (turnovers), but we made them at the wrong time.”
Chicago took a 2-1 lead at 4-14 of the third through Caleb Jones’ power-play goal.
Chicago’s efforts to defuse the home ice edge quickly paid off when the Blackhawks scored 35 seconds into the game. Jujhar Khaira tapped Jarred Tinordi’s shot for his fourth goal of the season. The Coyotes equalized 2-12 in the second period with 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 deal earlier this week. Kaiser, a 2020 third-round pick, played as a junior at Minnesota-Duluth that season.
Kaiser played 15:40 and blocked a shot.
“Hard road to (lose) but I had a great time,” Kaiser said. “After the first shift, I only play ice hockey. I made a few dubious plays, but I’m still learning.”
EICHIPS
Blackhawks: LW Andreas Englund (hamstring) missed his sixth straight game. … RW Cole Guttman had surgery on his right shoulder 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 get dressed for the game as Arizona wanted to get ice time for Prosvetov.
NEXT
Blackhawks: Monday in Colorado.
Coyotes: Tuesday in Winnipeg. ___
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