Coyotes Fall to Rangers at Mullett Arena on Saturday

STATS

Matias Maccelli, Clayton Keller, Nick Bjugstad, Lawson Crouse, and Logan Cooley scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 24 saves, but the Arizona Coyotes fell 8-5 to the New York Rangers on Saturday.

Alexis Lafrenière recorded a hat trick, Ryan Lindgren, Chris Kreider, Zac Jones, Barclay Goodrow, and Artemi Panarin each added a goal, and Jonathan Quick made 27 saves for the Kings, who won their fifth straight game. Quick earned his 392nd career win, officially becoming the winningest American-born goalie in NHL history.

Arizona stormed back from two separate two-goal deficits to tie the game heading into the third, but the Rangers scored five goals in the final frame en route to the win.

"The third period was frustrating," Crouse said. "We went into it tied and allowed them to score three (unanswered), which is no good. Top team in the league, you can't do that."

The league-leading Rangers capitalized on their opportunities to earn their 10th victory in 12 games.

"We worked really hard, we generated enough offense," head coach André Tourigny said. "We played good defense, but we had major breakdowns, we made critical mistakes, and that's frustrating."

Lafrenière opened the scoring at 14:15 of the first period, beating Vejmelka with a wrister on a 2-on-1 break. Lindgren made it 2-0 just 1:59 into the second, finishing a pass from Adam Fox in the slot to pad the Rangers’ lead.

Maccelli got the Coyotes on the board at 6:27 of the middle frame, firing a wrist shot from the slot over Quick’s glove. Jack McBain and Josh Doan earned the assists on the play, and Doan officially became the first player in Coyotes team history to record at least one point in each of his first three games.

Lafrenière responded 17 seconds later with his second goal of the game, sending a rebound home to restore New York’s two-goal lead, but Keller responded with his 32nd of the year at 11:06 to pull the Coyotes to within a goal. Keller has nine goals over his last 10 games, and has scored in seven of his last eight.

Bjugstad tied the game at 19:18 of the second, beating Quick with a wrister from the slot to make it 3-3.

Kreider restored the Rangers’ lead 5:45 into the third period before Jones made it 5-3 just under two minutes later. Goodrow scored a shorthanded goal at 9:33 to make it 6-3 before Crouse brought the Coyotes back to within two with a power-play goal at 12:21.

"We have to be better in the third," Crouse said.

Cooley brought the Coyotes to within a goal with his 17th goal of the season at 14:26, but Panarin and Lafrenière added empty-net goals to round out the scoring and essentially ice the game.

"There's a lot of positives," Tourigny said. "We want more. We were there, why not get the two points? We scored five goals against a really good team, there's no reason for us to not win that game."

Arizona is back in action on Wednesday against the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth game of their current seven-game homestand. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm MST, and the game will be broadcast on Arizona 61 (TV) and ESPN 620 (Radio).