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Coyotes gave St. Louis the Blues in a 6-2 blowout

© Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Looking to snap a two-game losing streak, the Arizona Coyotes (2-2) wrapped up a four-game roadtrip with a 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues (1-1-1) at Enterprise Center in Missouri on Oct. 19.

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Losing to the New York Islanders 1-0 in their last game, the ‘Yotes changed their forward lines after only registering 14 shots on Oct. 17.

On the second line, rookie Logan Cooley and right winger Jason Zucker had a new line-mate with Matias Maccelli joining them.

Swapping between the third and fourth trios, forward Michael Carcone moved up to the third with center Nick Bjugstad and winger Lawson Crouse.

Transferring down, Arizona winger/center Alex Kerfoot was alongside Jack McBain and Liam O’Brien on the last forward line.

With the Blues, they were without left winger Pavel Buchnevich after suffering an upper body injury in their game against the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 14.

Buchnevich had 67 points in 63 games last season.

Tonight, one team scored for fun while the other turned over the puck and their defense had multiple miscues.

First Period

After a game where they only had 14 shots, Arizona almost got the same amount in the first period and were the more-attacking side.

There a few chances for ‘Yotes center Barrett Hayton to score, but they were turned away.

In the offseason, Bjugstad came back to Arizona to add even more depth in the middle.

Tonight, he got his first goal since returning.

On the power-play at 14:42 into the first frame, Maccelli skated towards the left side near the boards.

Then, Maccelli looked up and found a wide-open Bjugstad who was between the face-off circles and scored past the glove of St. Louis Blues goaltender Joel Hofer to make it 1-0.

At the end of the period, the Coyotes took the 1-0 lead into the intermission.

Additionally, Arizona outshot St. Louis 11-7.

Second Period

In the last two games, the Coyotes only scored 1 goal.

The second period tonight, 3.

In his thirteenth NHL appearance in his home state of Missouri, ‘Yotes winger Clayton Keller had himself a night.

Trying to get out of the defensive zone, Blues right winger Alexey Toropchenko was stripped of the puck by Coyotes defenseman Sean Durzi.

At center ice, Arizona winger Nick Schmaltz turned with the puck and accelerated back into the Blues zone.

Then, Schmaltz sent a saucer pass to Keller who went left to right and potted a goal past Hofer for a 2-0 advantage 2:34 into the second frame.

Moreover, after that goal, the Coyotes forced St. Louis into two more turnovers as the offensive pressure continued.

Following a huge chance by Arizona, Blues forward Jakob Vrana scored with 12:58 left in the second period.

42 seconds later, Carcone got in on the action as he had a mini-breakaway and put just enough power on a backhander to stuff the puck past the pads of Hofer and Arizona were up 3-1.

As the puck bounced in the corner, another Blues turnover happened.

Spinning around, St. Louis defenseman Torey Krug passed the puck right onto the stick of Keller’s.

Cutting in, Schmaltz skated towards the front of the net and Keller found Schmaltz to backhand the puck past Hofer and all of a sudden, Arizona were winning 4-1.

Third Period

To think that the job was done at 4-1 was incorrect.

On the power-play, Zucker got his name on the scoresheet.

Looking for an open guy, Maccelli saw Zucker by himself who wired the puck with a slap-shot that blew by Hofer to give Arizona a 5-1 lead 2:09 into the third period.

Not going down without a fight, St. Louis forward Sammy Blais made it 5-2 1:06 later.

Adding to his blistering start, Cooley got his 4th point in 4 games.

Winning the face-off, Cooley served the puck up to Durzi and he rifled it off the post and in to close out a 6-2 victory.

Postgame Notes

The offense came to play tonight as Arizona had 42 shots on net, exactly three times the amount they had against the Islanders with 14.

Durzi, defenseman Juuso Välimäki, Keller, Maccelli, and Schamltz all had two points in the game.

Since 2020-21, Schmaltz has the most points out of any player in the NHL against the Blues with 22.

As for the goaltending, Coyotes’ Connor Ingram stopped 24 on 26 shots and Hofer made 36 saves on 42 shots.

The ‘Yotes power-play were eletric tonight, going 3-for-4 on the man advantage.

On Saturday, Arizona host the Anaheim Ducks in their home-opener at Mullett Arena at 1 p.m.

Burn City Best Bets: Coyotes Stay On The Road Against the Blues

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

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