By JACK THOMPSON
Associated Press
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Juuso Valimaki broke a tie with 3:12 to play and the Arizona Coyotes beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Saturday.
Valimaki also assisted on Arizona’s first two goals to help the Coyotes extend their point streak to eight games.
Clayton Keller scored his 32nd goal of the season to tie the game six minutes into the third period. Keller also had two assists, giving him 43 on the season. He has scored in eight straight games.
Barrett Hayton, who has points in each of his last seven games, connected for Arizona in the second period, and Matias Maccelli scored on an empty net with 38.3 seconds to go.
“It’s not always pretty, but when you have the confidence that we have now, we find a way,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said.
Ivan Prosvetov, making his third start of the season, stopped 32 shots as Arizona improved to 3-0. The Coyotes have won four in a row, all at home, and are 20-11-3 at Mullett Arena.
“There is no secret, the whole team is playing very well,” Prosvetov said of his record. “I definitely put in some work over the summer and still do now.”
“My first two games were good, but I couldn’t control some of the rebounding. I saw the puck better and killed some chaos in front of the net.”
Valimaki’s goal was only his third of the season. He has 28 assists, trailing only Keller and Maccelli at Arizona.
“I saw a penalty coming, I just made a pass and opened it up,” the defender said of the go-ahead goal. “Some of those plays that those guys are making right now, they’re unbelievable. All of a sudden the puck was on my stick and it went in.
“We are a really tight group. It’s so much fun right now. Everyone is playing very well and we are quite confident in our game.”
The Blackhawks, though last in the Central, were coming off wins at home against league-leading Boston on Tuesday night and in Nashville on Thursday night.
“I think we skated pretty well, similar to the way we’ve played lately,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “We didn’t do a lot of (balloon rotaries), but we did them at the wrong time.”
Chicago took a 2–1 lead at 4:14 of the third on Caleb Jones’ power play goal.
Chicago’s efforts to disable the home-ice advantage paid off quickly, as the Blackhawks scored 35 seconds into the game. Jujhar Khaira spiked in a Jarred Tinordi finish for his fourth goal of the season. The Coyotes tied it with 2:12 left in the second half on Hayton’s 14th goal.
Alex Stalock made 17 saves for Chicago.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB
Chicago defenseman Wyatt Kaiser made his NHL debut on 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.
Kaiser played 15:40 and blocked a shot.
“A tough way to (lose), but I had a lot of fun,” Kaiser said. ”After the first shift, I’m just playing hockey. I made some questionable plays, but I’m still learning.”
ICE CHIPS
Blackhawks: LW Andreas Englund (hamstring) missed his sixth straight game. … RW Cole Guttman underwent 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 did not suit up for the game as Arizona wanted to get ice time for Prosvetov.
NEXT
Blackhawks: In Colorado on Monday.
Coyotes: At Winnipeg on Tuesday. ___
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