Coyotes Fall to Hurricanes at Mullett Arena on Friday

STATS

Dylan Guenther scored and Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves, but the Arizona Coyotes fell to the Carolina Hurricanes 5-1 at Mullett Arena on Friday.

Goalie Matt Villalta replaced Vejmelka with 13 minutes to play in the game, and made four saves while not allowing a goal in his NHL debut.

"Not the result we were looking for, but on a personal note, it's something very special, and definitely a cool moment despite the loss," Villalta said. "I'm just very thankful and fortunate for everyone who's helped me this far to get to this point. I just tried to soak it all in as much as I could but stay in the moment at the same time."

Carolina won the season series between the two teams, 2-0-0.

Jordan Martinook, Jalen Chatfield, Seth Jarvis, Teuvo Teravainen, and Michael Bunting scored for the Hurricanes, who have won six of their last eight games. Pyotr Kochetkov made 30 saves to earn his 14th win of the season.

Martinook opened the scoring 16 seconds into the game, beating Vejmelka from in close. The 31-year-old played the first four seasons of his career in Arizona, and now has 75 goals in 612 career games. Chatfield then made it 2-0 at 4:50 of the opening frame with his fifth goal of the season.

"The way we started the game was unfortunate," head coach André Tourigny said. "We need to be more detailed, and that's on me; that's my responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen."

Guenther brought the Coyotes to within a goal at 14:32 of the first period, corralling a loose puck at center ice before speeding into the zone and wristing it past Kochetkov for his fifth goal in 16 games this season.

Guenther and rookie Logan Cooley logged the most minutes out of all of Arizona's forwards on Friday, with the former logging 18:34 of ice time, while the latter notched 16:59. They combined for five of Arizona's 31 shots, accounted for the team's only goal, and Cooley finished the night 2-for-4 on faceoffs.

"They had pace, they had energy, they put pucks north," Tourigny said. "Made a little mistake on the first goal, but for the most part I was happy with them."

Jarvis made it 3-1 at 6:28 of the second, though, and Teravainen made it 4-1 with a power-play goal at 17:16 before Bunting rounded out the scoring at 4:37 of the third.

Villalta came in following the six-minute media timeout in the final frame, earning his first-ever NHL action after putting together an All-Star season with the Tucson Roadrunners in the American Hockey League (AHL). 

He's 22-11-1 with two shutouts, a 2.58 goals-against average and .913 save percentage in the AHL this season.

"We have a pretty special group down there," Villalta said. "We have a great group of guys and great coaching staff. The staff shows up very early every morning, and they put a plan in place for us. They make it easy on us."

Tourigny said the four-goal deficit was a good time to get the 24-year-old netminder a little ice time, especially as the team prepares for back-to-back games against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday and Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

"At 5-1 it was an opportunity for him to get his feet wet a little bit and have a feel for the game," Tourigny said. "I think he showed quickness, same thing as the morning skate this morning. What I saw firsthand, he's really quick."

The Coyotes are back in action on Sunday in Denver before returning home for two more games. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 pm MST, and the game will be broadcast on Arizona 61 (TV) and Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (Radio).