Clayton Keller, Lawson Crouse and Nick Schmaltz all scored a goal and had an assist each as the Arizona Coyotes defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-2 on Sunday.
Keller, Crouse, Schmaltz, Dylan Guenther and Liam O’Brien all scored for the Coyotes (33-39-5). Connor Ingram made 25 saves in Arizona’s second consecutive win.
Luke Kukin and Henry Thrun recorded goals for the Sharks (18-51-8). Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 23 shots as San Jose remains at the bottom of the NHL standings with 44 points.
On the power play, Matias Maccelli glided across the left side of the boards and pinpointed Crouse for a one-timer, burying his 22nd goal of the season for a 1-0 ‘Yotes lead 3:17 into the game.
Just 1:11 later, Mikael Granlund set up Thrun for a slapshot from the point to even up the score, 1-1.
Michael Carcone wrapped around San Jose’s net and found O’Brien who tried to poke the puck past Blackwood. As the puck was rolling between the legs of the Sharks goaltender, it slipped onto the goal line and crossed with 9:53 remaining in the first period.
Arizona ran into penalty trouble throughout the contest, totaling 18 minutes. The Sharks were only 1-for-6 on the man advantage with Thrun’s tally being the only one.
“I think we were alright in the first [period] and in the second, we got carried away a little bit with a few penalties but no game will be perfect,” Coyotes head coach André Tourigny said. “All in all, I think San Jose played a really good game, played really hard but we stayed with it and found a way to win.”
After hitting Travis Dermott in the offensive zone and taking a check back from Josh Brown, Kunin planted himself in front of the ‘Yotes’ goal and tapped in a pass from Thrun, tying the game once more, 2-2. Sharks rookie Collin Graf recorded a secondary assist for his first NHL point.
Crouse then chipped the puck just inside the blue line to remain onside before Alex Kerfoot fed Guenther who fired a shot past Blackwood for Arizona to lead 3-2 4:56 into the third.
Schmaltz and Keller would both score towards the end to cap off a 5-2 win in favor of the Coyotes.
“We were able to stay patient and not get too frustrated, then bring it together in the third,” Guenther said.
With this victory, the Coyotes won all three regular-season games against the Sharks. Arizona won 1-0 on Dec. 15, 2023 in Tempe and 5-2 on Dec. 21 in San Jose.
Next Games
Coyotes: Away vs. Seattle Kraken (32-32-13) on April 9 at 7 p.m. PT
Sharks: Home vs. Calgary Flames (34-37-5) on April 9 at 7:30 p.m. PT
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