Connect with us
Burn+

Arizona Coyotes

Arizona Coyotes successful Anaheim Duck hunting trip

© Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Despite taking multiple trips to the penalty box, the Arizona Coyotes claimed a 4-2 victory against the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center on Oct. 7.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

Both teams had almost their whole NHL rosters play with the regular season nearing next week.

But even tonight, it felt like the season already started.

First Period

The Coyotes began the first period off to a slow start as they were outshot 9-3 in the initial half of the time frame.

Besides Arizona center Travis Boyd slinging a wrist-shot that beat Ducks goaltender John Gibson, but after it hit the crossbar, there weren’t many dangerous scoring chances.

Second Period

In the second period, the Coyotes got on the board and both teams filled up the penalty box.

First, it was Coyotes rookie Logan Cooley who capitalized off of a Ducks mistake.

Looking like he was going to break the puck out of the Ducks’ defensive zone, Anaheim defenseman Lassi Thomson corralled the puck and went behind the net.

Then, Arizona winger Jason Zucker pressured Thomson into causing a turnover right to Cooley who buried the first goal of the game 2:35 into the second period.

Even though the goal counted, Zucker did knock Gibson’s stick out of his blocker hand and the goaltender complained as he tried to pick up his stick before Cooley shot the puck.

A 1:05 later, the Coyotes fourth line got on the board.

Coming close in the first period, Boyd intercepted an attempted-clear by Thomson and did the rest.

Boyd went into the corner and whipped a backhand pass to Arizona winger Alex Kerfoot who was open in the slot.

Capitalizing on the opportunity, Kerfoot sniped it over the glove of Gibson to grow the Coyotes lead to 2-0.

With 11:31 remaining the second period, Ducks winger Troy Terry saw teammate Trevor Zegras open for a one-timer and was stoned.

Out of nowhere, Coyotes goaltender Connor Ingram slid over and got a piece of the puck with his glove to keep the score at 2-0.

In the end, the Coyotes had with seven penalties in the second period alone and Anaheim had four.

Third Period

It didn’t take long for the Coyotes to score again in the third period.

First, Cooley received a pass and went up the ice on a breakaway with Anaheim defenseman Pavel Mintyukov trailing him.

As he couldn’t catch up, Mintyukov hooked Cooley from behind with his stick before the Coyotes center was able to shoot.

At 16:21 left in the third, the referee pointed to center ice, indicating a penalty shot opportunity for Cooley after Mintyukov’s infraction.

There, Cooley would accelerate after picking up the puck from the middle and swiveled between the hash marks.

Cleanly, Cooley scored bar-down to convert on the penalty shot and gave Arizona a 3-0 advantage.

A few minutes later, the first power-play goal of the night was finally converted.

Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler cross-checked Boyd, which gave the ‘Yotes a man-advantage.

As it was concluding, Zucker and Arizona winger Matias Maccelli passed it back and forth.

Suddenly, one more pass from Zucker to Maccelli got Gibson out of position with two seconds left on the power-play.

Quickly, Maccelli had a wide-open net and shot it over the sprawling Gibson and the Coyotes built a 4-0 lead with 10:56 left in the game.

Not even thirty seconds later, Ducks second overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, Leo Carlsson, had a breakaway opportunity that was saved by Ingram.

As the game was wrapping up, Anaheim forward Brett Leason skated towards the Coyotes goal.

Swiftly, he passed the puck right to line-mate Sam Carrick in front of the net.

Closely defended, Carrick would finally pot the first Ducks goal of the night to make it 4-1 with 3:34 remaining.

Then, former Coyote Zach Kassian scored 1:50 later after burying a rebound after Terry had an initial shot that Ingram saved.

Final Game Notes

Quietly, the Anaheim Ducks had 35 shots on the night, with Ingram making 33 saves.

Meanwhile, the Coyotes shot 17 times with Gibson saving 13 of them.

After taking a total of 10 penalties throughout the game, the total penalty minutes the Coyotes had was 31.

However, Anaheim would only go 1 for 7 on the power-play.

On Oct. 7 , both teams play again as they conclude their preseasons at Tucson Arena at 3 p.m.

NHL Commissioner believes Coyotes arena situation is near

*Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, exclusive content, and access to our seasonal magazines! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our premium content!*

Alec Cipollini is a journalist covering the Arizona Coyotes and Phoenix Rising for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his new X account @AlecCipollini

Related Topics

More in Arizona Coyotes