Clayton Keller reaches 30 goals as Coyotes outlast Flames
The Arizona Coyotes, a team locked into a rebuild, played spoiler to the Calgary Flames, a team with playoff hopes on the line.
Backed by Clayton Keller’s two goals, the Coyotes churned out a 4-3 overtime win on Tuesday.
With Connor Ingram in the net, the Coyotes weathered the Flames' insistent offense and turned away 42 shots in the game.
Matias Maccelli gave the Coyotes a 2-1 lead 55 seconds into the second period when he finished off a feed from Jack McBain and Lawson Crouse. The Flames then responded quickly with Walker Duehr beating out Ingram for the tied score.
Troy Stecher, who was traded from the Coyotes at the deadline, played in his first game back at Mullett Arena and was the primary playmaker on Jonathan Huberdeau’s goal that sent the game into overtime at 14:59 in the third. Travis Boyd scored the winning shot in overtime.
“They play with desperation, they play for each other,” Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny said. “I think we know we’re missing big pieces and there are two ways you can react in those situations. You can enjoy the fact that you have excuses or you can show character and double down. That’s what our guys are doing.”
Record year
Keller knew the implications of him scoring tonight would break the decade-long wait for a 30-goal scorer in the franchise. He didn’t waste time in the game and used his speed to tip in Barrett Hayton’s shot from the faceoff circle at 9:22 in the first.
“It was definitely nice to get the goal out of the way early and my mindset early on was having a shooting mentality. I think I did that early and opened up some plays,” Keller said. “My linemates did a great job and Hayts made an unbelievable play there.”
Keller became the first player in the franchise to reach 30 goals since Radim Vrbata in 2011-12 and subsequently became the first player to reach 70 points in a season since Ray Whitney in that same season.
More:Coyotes continue Mullett Magic with overtime comeback vs. Wild
Shake it off
The Coyotes had a quick burst of momentum taken away in the second period. Travis Boyd fired a snap shot off Markstrom via Lawson Crouse’s pass and put the Coyotes ahead 3-2 at 7:41 in the second. The play was swiftly challenged by the Flames and was called off for goaltender interference not too long after.
Following the disallowed goal, the Flames fired seven shots on goal and kept the pressure on Ingram with Dillon Dubé’s shot going off the post. Ingram remained calm under pressure and made a big save off a slap shot from Rasmus Andersson with 9.1 seconds left.
Boyd got his goal back during overtime when he went to the net and put in Juuso Valimaki’s rebound.
“It was the right call and he made a great play on that one as well. Too bad for him that it did not register, but he had a good night,” Tourigny said.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Keller earns career mark, Arizona Coyotes down Calgary Flames in OT
