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Alex Kerfoot’s 3-point night pushes Coyotes to 4-1 victory over Blues

© Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Thanks to two standout performances by center Alex Kerfoot and goaltender Connor Ingram, the Arizona Coyotes (12-9-2) beat the St. Louis Blues (12-10-1) 4-1 at Mullett Arena on Dec. 2.

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Tonight was the fourth and final time these two teams would play each other in the regular season.

Before they hit the ice, the Coyotes were 1-2 against the Blues in their last three contests against one another.

Season Series

  • 6-2 W Oct. 19 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis
  • 2-1 L Nov.9 at Enterprise Center
  • 6-5 L Nov. 22 at Mullett Arena

Also, this matchup should have been circled on most calendars because St. Louis was right in front of Arizona in the standings.

Sitting in fourth place in the Central Division, the Blues had 25 points on the season, one more than the ‘Yotes (24).

Seeing the same, familiar faces on the other side already, Arizona knew what to expect and pushed to the end.

First Period

With a combined six goals in their last encounter, the Coyotes got on the board quick which created the feeling that it was already time to buckle up for another wild contest.

Entering into the Blues’ defensive zone, Kerfoot dumped the puck towards the boards.

Then, Kerfoot bolted straight for it as he won a foot race with St. Louis defenseman Justin Faulk.

Not looking, Kerfoot used his inside edges of his skates, spun around and conveniently found Coyotes left wing Michael Carcone wide-open in the slot.

There, Carcone took a couple seconds before ripping the puck top-shelf, over the blocker of Blues goaltender Joel Hofer to give Arizona the lead, 1-0 just 0:40 in.

Additionally, that goal would be Carcone’s 11th of the season, surpassing ‘Yotes teammate Lawson Crouse (10) for the team lead.

Moving along, Kerfoot once again got another assist as Coyotes forward Nick Schmaltz buried a power-play goal with 4:11 remaining in the first frame.

St. Louis’ offense was ice-cold as they only had one shot-on-goal for 17:17 into the game.

Scoring at the beginning, the Coyotes decided do it again before the first intermission.

Skating up the ice, Arizona defenseman Michael Kesselring bursted into the offensive zone, and sent Crouse a backhanded pass.

In between the face-off circles, Crouse found ‘Yotes left wing Matias Maccelli on his right before Maccelli netted his fourth goal of the season to make it 3-0 Arizona with just 0:37 left.

At the end of the first period, eight-different Coyotes had at least a point.

Furthermore, the Desert Dogs outshot the Blues 10-3.

Second Period

After not facing much action in the first period, Ingram made two crucial saves, including him stopping a breakaway bid by St. Louis defenseman Torey Krug.

A switch was flipped from Arizona dominating with high octane offense to having to defend in their zone in the second frame.

Later on, Coyotes defenseman Sean Durzi received a penalty while on the bench.

As ‘Yotes winger Liam O’Brien finished a hit on Blues center Brayden Schenn, Schenn upper-body went over Arizona’s bench.

Seeing Schenn there, Durzi held Schenn’s head down with his glove.

Looking over, both referees saw it and Durzi was given an interference call without being on the ice.

With just 0:50 left in the middle period, St. Louis right wing Jordan Kyrou sent a saucer pass to defenseman Colton Parayko.

Locked on a one-timer, Parayko let go of a shot that was stopped by Ingram after doing the splits and getting a toe on the puck.

The Blues’ resurgent second period ended with them having 15 shots after only three in the first.

Yet, Ingram was able to turn them all aside.

Third Period

St. Louis would keep up the momentum rolling into the third, but the Coyotes’ defense and Ingram continued to shut them down.

In the first 7:00 of the final period, Durzi blocked three shots as he sacrificed his body.

Moving forward, Coyotes right wing Jason Zucker received a pass from Carcone and scored, then didn’t.

The goal went to review as the replay showed Zucker kicked the puck into the net before it was eventually disallowed.

From Arizona having goal wiped out, the Blues continued to roll and were eventually able to break Ingram’s shutout.

Pouncing on a rebound, St. Louis left wing Brandon Saad swung a backhanded try that beat Ingram to minimize their deficit to 3-1 with 10:25 left in the game.

To ice the game, Kerfoot got his third point of the night as he sent a shot from the Coyotes’ defensive zone into the Blues’ empty net for a 4-1 win.

Post Game Notes

In a tail of two halves where the Coyotes had the momentum in the first and the Blues possessed the backend of the game, Arizona were able get out of the contest with a hard-fought win.

Despite a slow start, St. Louis ended up outshooting the ‘Yotes 32-22.

Starting in his fourth-straight game, Ingram has been stellar as he is now 4-0 since becoming the starting goaltender for Arizona.

Kerfoot’s goal and two assist performance was his ninth-three point game of his NHL career.

As for St. Louis, Hofer stopped 19-of-22 shots he faced with Arizona’s offense dwindled as the game moved on.

With this result, the Coyotes are now 12-9-2 on the season and surpass the Blues for fourth place in the Central Division with 26 points.

Back at “The Mullett,” Arizona host the Washington Capitals in Tempe on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.

Nick Bjugstad scores OT winner, caps off Coyotes 4-3 win over Avalanche

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Alec Cipollini is a reporter of the Arizona Coyotes and Cardinals for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account @AlecCipollini

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