Arizona Coyotes Best the Pittsburgh Penguins At Mullett Arena

Jason Zucker was baffled at Logan Cooley's pass to set up the Coyotes first goal of the game
Credit: NHL.com

Jason Zucker‘s two point night against his former team helped propel the Arizona Coyotes past the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night.

Zucker opened the scoring 2:23 into the game after starting the rush from behind his own net and breaking into the Coyotes offensive zone, where Logan Cooley chipped a loose puck across the zone and Zucker lifted it over Tristan Jarry, 1-0 Coyotes.

Connor Ingram stopped all of the Penguins shots in the first, and the Coyotes took their 1-0 lead into the intermission.

The second frame hosted most of the game’s goals.

Lars Eller landed his 20th of the season after a neutral zone turnover by Nick Bjugstad was carried into the Penguins offensive zone by Pierre-Olivier Joseph. Eller grabbed the puck off a pass from Joseph and sent it towards the crease when it ricocheted off Jusso Valimaki and Josh Brown before finding its way past Ingram, tying the game at 1 after 4:50 had elapsed.

Valimaki found an open lane in the slot, where Clayton Keller laid a pass onto his stick, that Valimaki sent past Jarry 11:50 into the frame, 2-1 Coyotes.

Pittsburgh capitalized with 03 remaining on an Alex Kerfoot slashing penalty when Erik Karlsson returned the puck to Sidney Crosby just above the red line, who chipped it past Ingram, making it 2-2 with 3:30 to play in the period.

Kerfoot scored Arizona’s second of the period, after Jarry lost his footing in the crease, on a chip pass from Zucker that was originally set up on a dump into the zone by Lawson Crouse, 3-2 Coyotes with under 2:00 remaining in the middle period.

The Penguins blundered early in the third period, when Kris Letang net the puck on a backwards pass to Crosby, during a delayed penalty, adding to the Coyotes lead, and getting credited to Crouse, for his 18th goal on the season, 4-2 Coyotes.

Jack McBain set up the fifth and final goal on the night for the Coyotes on a pass that was gloved down just outside the Coyotes offensive zone by Liam O’Brien, who led Bjugstad through the Penguins defense with a backhand pass, setting him up for a 1-on-1 with Jarry that Bjugstad was the victor of, 5-2 Coyotes.

The Coyotes start a three game road trip on Wednesday, with the first of a Florida back-to-back against the reigning Eastern Conference Champion, Florida Panthers.


Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

James Mackey

Arizona State Journalism Major Covering the Chicago Blackhawks and hockey in Arizona.

Leave a Reply

Steve Yzerman, General Manager of the Detroit Red Wings

Yzerman: This Red Wings Team ‘Can Take a Step’

The Detroit Red Wings currently have $12.09 million in salary cap space after the team acquired goaltender John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks and acquired free agent left-winger James van Riemsdyk recently. According to general manager Steve Yzerman, the team will likely stand pat right now despite having this amount of cap space. The fact […]

Read More
Tanner Jeannot of the Los Angeles Kings

Player Profile: Tanner Jeannot

Tanner Jeannot was born on May 29, 1997, in Estevan, Saskatchewan. The left-shooting forward played for three seasons with the Estevan Bruins from 2010-13. In his first two seasons with the U15 club, Jeannot scored 29 goals and collected 18 assists in 42 games and five goals and three assists in ten postseason games. Jeannot […]

Read More
Gage Goncalves of the Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay Lightning Make Significant Player Signings To Start July

As free agency has started in the National Hockey League, many teams, including the Tampa Bay Lightning, are making significant roster moves with free agents and player extensions. Just yesterday, July 1, for day one of free agency, the Lightning extended young 24-year-old Portuguese forward Gage Goncalves to a two-year contract worth $1.2 million a […]

Read More