Coyotes Score Six in 3rd Period to Stun Vegas on Friday

STATS

The Arizona Coyotes kicked off their weekend with a six pack of Mullett Magic.

Michael Carcone scored twice, five other Coyotes chipped in a goal, and Karel Vejmelka made 20 saves as the Coyotes used six third-period goals to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 7-4 at Mullett Arena on Friday.

Alex Kerfoot, Josh Doan, Nick Bjugstad, Josh Brown, and Logan Cooley also scored for the Coyotes, who have won three of their last five games. Carcone, Kerfoot, Nick Schmaltz, and Clayton Keller each finished with two points apiece, while Keller extended his point streak to 10 games, which is the longest active streak in the NHL.

Keller has reached 70 points for the second straight season, joining Shane Doan (2007-09) and Jeremy Roenick (1998-01) as the only skaters in Coyotes team history with consecutive seasons of 70+ points.

Arizona finished 2-1-0 against the defending Stanley Cup champions, and concluded its seven-game homestand 4-3-0.

“I think we know we’re supposed to be the underdog in every game, so that gives you a little chip on your shoulder,’ Brown said. “We want to play hard against those guys, because that’s a measuring stick for us in the years to come. There’s no quit in this team, and that’s the way we have to keep it going until the end of the year.”

Jack Eichel, William Karlsson, Anthony Mantha, and Chandler Stephenson scored for the Golden Knights, who had their three-game winning streak stopped. Logan Thompson made 25 saves in the loss.

The Coyotes’ entered the third period trailing 4-1, but flipped the script in a hurry by scoring six unanswered over a span of nine minutes and six seconds. That mark is the fastest since Oct. 30, 1988, and turned a three-goal deficit into a three-goal win.

Every forward, and 15 of Arizona’s 18 skaters, recorded at least one point.

“It’s good for us to have that comeback, and to have everyone contribute,” head coach André Tourigny said. “All four lines contributed, and we got a big goal from a defenseman.”

Carcone reached the 20-goal plateau in his first full NHL season, and his 21st of the year was ultimately the game-winning goal. The 27-year-old now has 29 points on 21 goals and eight assists in 68 games this season after having never played more than 21 games before 2023-24.

He won the AHL scoring title with the Tucson Roadrunners in 2022-23.

“It was pretty surreal, I got a bit emotional there on the bench,” Carcone said. “It’s a good feeling, just glad it’s out of the way, and move on, and glad we got the win, to be honest.”

Tourigny said Carcone’s defensive play has improved drastically as the season has worn on, especially with linemates Liam O’Brien and Alex Kerfoot.

“He’s had a much different effort defensively, and I’m really happy about the way he’s played,” he said. “I like that line and Carcs is a big part of it because he has that offense in him. The way he works now defensively, he helps us all the time when he’s on the ice.”

Arizona and Vegas played a scoreless first before the two teams exploded with offense in the final two frames, accounting for five goals in the second and six in the third.

Kerfoot opened the scoring at 6:17 of the second, wristing a shot from the left circle past Thompson.

Eichel tied it up just over a minute after Kerfoot’s goal, sending home a rebound from Brayden McNabb’s initial shot. Karlsson made it 2-1 at 11:08 of the middle frame, with a wrister from the slot before Mantha finished an odd-man rush to make it 3-1.

Stephenson rounded out the second period scoring at 18:08, beating Vejmelka on a partial breakaway to give the Golden Knights a three-goal cushion heading into the second intermission.

“The second was dreadful,” Brown said. “That wasn’t our best period, so we came in here, talked about it and rolled everything over the bench. You get to play a little looser when you’re the underdog in a game like that.”

If the second period was dreadful, the third was nothing short of spectacular.

Doan started the rally, firing a shot that Thompson initially saved before it redirected off Noah Hanifan’s skate and into the net. The 22-year-old now has six points on three goals and three assists in just five career NHL games.

Bjugstad brought the Coyotes to within one 57 seconds later before Carcone tied it up with his 20th of the year, and he then added another just over five minutes later to give Arizona the lead for good.

Brown essentially iced the game with a one-timer from the point that went bar-down, and Cooley added an empty-net goal to bring his total to 18 on the season. The 19-year-old became just sixth rookie in Coyotes team history to reach 40 points in a season.

The Coyotes are back in action on Sunday, kicking off a five-game road trip in San Jose. Puck drop is scheduled for 3 pm MST, and the game will be broadcast on Arizona 61 (TV) and ESPN 620 (Radio).