The entirety of the first period, no goals were posted, and only 10 shots were recorded between the Arizona Coyotes and Vancouver Canucks.
It took just under 30 minutes of play for the game’s first goal to be recorded.
After Josh Brown was booked for delay of game, the Canucks 22.4 power play percentage went to work.
The puck found Quinn Hughes just shy of the blue line on the near side, after Elias Pettersson forwarded the puck to JT Miller, 1-0 Canucks.
Hughes’ 16th of the year with Miller’s 61st assist and Pettersson’s 52nd assist, was the nail in the Coyotes’ coffin for the remainder of the second period, and 10 minutes into the third period.
On a power play from Hughes tripping Michael Carcone, the Coyotes reversed their fortunes, and bested Arturs Silovs.
Dylan Guenther capitalized on beautiful passing by the Coyotes’ power play forward line of Alex Kerfoot, Clayton Keller and Guenther, as Kerfoot (29) received a pass from Keller (37), that he forwarded to Guenther in front of Silovs, and Guenther (13) tied the game at one with 9:14 to play in regulation.
Former Coyote Conor Garland finished off the Coyotes after Hughes wristed a puck on net that ricocheted off the glass on the end boards, and found Garland charging the net, allowing him to wrist it past Connor Ingram, grabbing the second and final of the night for the Canucks, 2-1.
Garland’s game sealing 16th of the season, with Hughes’ 70th assist and Filip Hronek’s 42nd assist stood for the remaining 1:51, despite the Coyotes having the upper hand with Ingram vacating his crease.
“We played really well today and deserved to win that game so it’s nice to come out on top” Garland said postgame. “That’s a tough team to play against. They got a lot of skill up front, a lotta guys that can make plays and that’s what they do so to keep them to the shots we had on a back-to-back’s really good.”
Vancouver fell victim to division foe Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday at T-Mobile Center, 6-3.
The Coyotes struggles showed in shot totals with only eight shots through two full periods.
“I think we played better in the third,” Guenther said postgame. “I don’t think that we played good enough to win. Just not fast enough.”
The Coyotes draw the Golden Knights on Friday, their seventh game of seven in the season’s longest homestand, with the Knights on five days rest, having not played since their win over Vancouver.
Meanwhile, the Canucks move to Los Angeles for a battle with the Kings on Saturday.
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