Kerfoot’s 3 Points Lead Coyotes to 4th Straight Win, Defeating Blues

Connor Ingram had a stellar performance with 31 saves for the Coyotes (12-9-2). The trio of Michael Carcone, Nick Schmaltz, and Matias Maccelli lit up the scoreboard with three goals in an explosive first period.

Arizona coach Andre Tourigny praised the team’s exceptional first period, stating, “That’s our best first period of the year, no doubt about it. With and without the puck we had urgency, we had a plan and we were focused. I really liked our first period, no doubt about it.”

On the other side, Brandon Saad managed to score for the Blues, but Joel Hofer’s 18 saves weren’t enough as they suffered their second loss in three games.

Defenseman Torey Krug expressed his frustration, saying, “Another game where we’ve got to stop the momentum before it ends up three [quick] goals like it did tonight. We had about 10 minutes there of bad hockey, 10 to 15 minutes of okay hockey, and 35 minutes of good hockey, but it’s not good enough.”

The Coyotes have secured four consecutive victories against the past five Stanley Cup champions: the Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning (2020 and 2021), and the Blues. Up next, they face the Washington Capitals, the 2018 Cup champions, on Monday.

Looking ahead, Tourigny emphasized the team’s ambition, stating, “We want to win games and we want to be in it, we want to be in the race for the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs. We said at the beginning of the season we wanted to play meaningful games, so we’re in a good spot. But we can’t take anything for granted, a [bad] week and you’re out of it.”

Ingram’s exceptional performance in all four games of the winning streak allowed only five goals, contributing significantly to the team’s success.

Reflecting on the victory, Maccelli commented, “We wanted this game. We got away a little from what we wanted to do in the second and third [periods], but we got the job done. It’s more fun when you win and ‘Ingy’ has been unreal.”