Coyotes end 19-game losing streak to Bruins with 4-3 win
By JOHN MARSHALL
AP Sports Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — The Arizona Coyotes’ return to the Mullett turned into one big streak-ending party.
Lawson Crouse scored his second goal with 13.5 seconds left in the third period and the Coyotes returned home to end a 19-game losing streak to the Boston Bruins with a 4-3 victory Friday night.
“They are a really good team, top one or two in the league,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “We went after them and really competed. That was a good win for our team.”
The Coyotes returned from a 14-game trip to play at Mullett Arena for the first time since Nov. 3. They got off to a great start when Josh Brown scored 23 seconds into the game and played well against the NHL-leading Bruins, taking a 3-2 lead on Nick Schmatz’s third-period goal.
Boston tied it on Nick Foligno’s power-play goal with 5 1/2 minutes left, but Coyotes closed it out in the closing seconds after an icing was called off.
Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman let the puck trickle across the line and Arizona rookie Matias Maccelli snatched it between two defenders, feeding Crouse for a one-timer to end the second-longest losing streak against one team in NHL history.
“I was kind of posting up on the blue line thinking it was going to be icing and he made a great pass,” Crouse said. “I just tried to get it up as quick as I could and it went in.”
Karel Vejmelka stopped 43 shots to help the Coyotes end a six-game losing streak.
David Pastrnak and Charlie Coyle each scored, and Swayman had 12 saves for the Bruins, who outshot Arizona 46-16.
“When you have that many shots in a game, the team did a lot of good things, but we wanted finish more, obviously,” Foligno said. “We dominated that team. It’s unfortunate we didn’t come away with the win.”
Arizona left the desert for its elongated trip to give Arizona State time to finish an annex at the 5,000-seat shared Mullett Arena.
The Coyotes got the trip off to a good start with three straight wins, but went 1-7-3 the rest of the way.
They wasted no time feeling comfortable back at their temporary home, scoring 23 seconds in when Brown shot through a passing screen and beat Swayman to the glove side.
Pastrnak tied it on a power play four minutes later, punching in a rebound during a wild scramble in front of Vejmelka.
Jakob Chychrun to have put Arizona up 2-1 on a power play early in the second period, but the officials upheld Boston’s challenge that the Coyotes were offside.
Boston then took the lead and this one counted when Coyle jammed in a rebound past Vejmelka from the edge of the crease.
The lead didn’t last long.
Crouse scored less than three minutes later by redirecting Shayne Gostisbehere’s shot from above the left circle, then Vejmelka stopped consecutive breakaways in less than a minute.
Schmaltz needed 53 seconds of the third period to put Arizona back up, beating Swayman after a pass from Clayton Keller.
Foligno managed to tie it, but a gaffe in their own end cost the Bruins a chance to extend their win streak against Arizona.
“I was shocked. Honestly, I actually couldn’t believe it,” Foligno said. “I was almost dumbfounded. Not not to knock those guys, it’s just a surprising call. One hundred times out of 100 that’s (icing).”
MACCELLI MAGIC
Maccelli has had a big impact in a short time for the Coyotes.
The shifty Finnish left wing had the primary assist on Brown’s opening goal and closed out Arizona’s win with a bit of tenacity to take the puck between two defenders.
A fourth-round pick in the 2019 NHL draft, Maccelli leads all NHL rookies with 17 assists and has scored two goals. He has nine points his last seven games.
“He was elite,” Tourigny said. “Celli keeps improving, he’s competing defensively, he’s good on both sides of the puck and makes the other players better.”
NOTES: The longest winning streak against one opponent in NHL history was Montreal’s 23 straight wins over Washington from 1974-78. … Arizona was without rookie Dylan Guenther, who was loaned to Team Canada for the world junior championships. … Boston is 10-1-1 against Western Conference teams this season. … Chychrun had an assist on Crouse’s goal for his 150th NHL point.
UP NEXT
Bruins: At Las Vegas on Sunday.
Coyotes: Host Philadelphia on Sunday.
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