Last-Place Coyotes Snap Wild's Streak With 5-3 Win
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Travis Boyd scored the go-ahead goal, which stood after a long review, and the last-place Arizona Coyotes beat the Minnesota Wild 5-3 on Tuesday night to slow their pursuit of home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak for the Wild, who are in a battle for home ice with the St. Louis Blues, their first-round opponent. The two entered Tuesday tied with 109 points, though the Wild have a game in hand.
Anton Stralman, Antoine Roussel, Jack McBain and Phil Kessel also scored for the Coyotes, who ended a 10-game skid.
Karel Vejmelka stopped 34 shots for the Coyotes. Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves in the loss.
Boyd, who played college hockey across the river at the University of Minnesota, redirected a shot from Shayne Gostisbehere with 9:38 remaining to give the Coyotes a 4-3 lead. The Wild challenged the play for offside, but officials ruled it a good goal after a long replay review.
Down 3-1 in the third, Minnesota scored two goals in 24 seconds to tie the game. Joel Eriksson Ek cut the deficit to one on a second-chance effort after grabbing the rebound from a shot by Marcus Foligno.
Not long after, it was Foligno's turn to find the net. He poked home a rebound past Vejmelka to tie the game and send the home crowd into a frenzy.
McBain redirected Stralman's shot past Fleury for his first career goal against the team that selected him in the third round of the 2018 draft. McBain never suited up for the Wild and was traded to the Coyotes in March. His goal put Arizona up 2-1.
Ryan Hartman's 34th goal of the season put the Wild on the board in the first.
Stralman scored the equalizer for the Coyotes with 1:44 to play in the second period.
Minnesota's two remaining regular-season games are both at home, with the Flames coming to Xcel Energy Center on Thursday. The Wild will then host the Avalanche in the season finale.
NOTES: With his first-period assist, forward Matt Boldy extended his Wild rookie record point streak to 10 games. … Coyotes D Vladislav Kloyachonok was out with an upper-body injury. He is day-to-day. … Wild F Kirill Kaprizov, who turned 25 on Tuesday, had an assist on Hartman's first-period goal for his 104th point of the season.
UP NEXT
Coyotes: At the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.
Wild: Host the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
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