Coyotes defeat Predators for 1st road win in 19 games

NASHVILLE --The Arizona Coyotes won on the road for the first time in 19 games with a 4-2 victory against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Monday.

Arizona had been 0-13-5 away from home since defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0 on Nov. 23.
"I think it says a lot about our character," Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. "We find a way. We're obviously not the level of a Tampa Bay or something like that, but character-wise, you could see even in the second period, when the wind was against us, we still battled and worked really hard. So, proud of the boys."
Lawson Crouse scored twice, J.J. Moser, Clayton Keller and Matias Maccelli each had two assists, and Karel Vejmelka made 29 saves for the Coyotes (18-28-8), who are 3-0-3 in their past six games overall.
Arizona was playing its second straight game without defenseman Jakob Chychrun, who is being scratched for "trade-related reasons."
"We played really, really good [game] tonight," Vejmelka said. "It was a very tough game against a really good opponent. I think it was a tough game defensively, and we scored a couple goals, so it's good."
Roman Josi and Colton Sissons scored, and Kevin Lankinen made 15 saves for the Predators (25-20-6), who have lost two of three since the All-Star break.
"It's a tough loss," Nashville coach John Hynes said. "It's disappointing. Had a couple breakdowns where they wound up scoring, but I thought from our opportunity offensively, I thought we had good looks, and unfortunately tonight the puck didn't go in. We needed three or four to win tonight and we didn't get it."

Crouse tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 12:17 of the second period. He scored with a slap shot from the top of the left circle after Maccelli's pass deflected to him off the stick of Dante Fabbro.
Crouse then gave the Coyotes a 3-2 lead at 4:20 of the third period, burying a one-timer from the low slot off a spinning backhand pass from Maccelli from below the goal line.
Crouse has scored 19 goals in 49 games this season after he had an NHL career-high 20 in 65 games last season.
"For me, it started last year with Andre Tourigny coming in and really giving me a chance to play," Crouse said. "I made the most of it last year and the same thing this year. Obviously, nothing was guaranteed, but [I] came into training camp with the mindset I wanted to continue to grow on that 20-goal season I had last year. Just approaching [it] with a positive attitude, believing in myself."
Christian Fischer scored an empty-net goal with 53 seconds remaining for the 4-2 final.

Nick Schmaltz gave Arizona a 1-0 lead at 17:15 of the first period, shooting a one-timer into an open net off a cross-ice pass from Keller. The play started after Nino Niederreiter couldn't control the puck for Nashville along the right boards.
"When we had a couple breakdowns, they wound up going in the net," Hynes said. "When they had breakdowns and we had the looks, they didn't go in tonight."
Josi tied it 1-1 at 4:41 of the second period with a one-timer from the point six seconds into a power play.
Sissons put Nashville in front 2-1 at 8:58. Yakov Trenin passed below the goal line to Sissons, whose shot from the top of the right circle fluttered over Vejmelka's left shoulder.

Vejmelka, who was selected by Nashville in the fifth round (No. 145) of the 2015 NHL Draft, was 0-2-0 with a 5.83 goals-against average and .797 save percentage in three starts against the Predators as a rookie last season.
"Yeah, it was the first win against them for me, so it's more special than the other games," Vejmelka said. "But I don't care who plays against us, I just want to give us a chance to win. We had big points tonight."
NOTES:Keller has nine points (three goals, six assists) during a four-game point streak. … Schmaltz has seven points (three goals, four assists) during a three-game point streak. … Josi has eight points (one goal, seven assists) during a six-game point streak. … Matt Duchene had an assist on Josi's goal to extend his point streak to four games (three goals, three assists). … Nashville played without forward Filip Forsberg, who is day to day with an upper-body injury. Philip Tomasino, who was recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League, was minus-1 in 14:47 of ice time in his season debut.