Prosvetov makes 39 saves for 1st NHL win, Coyotes defeat Predators

TEMPE, Ariz. --
Ivan Prosvetov
made 39 saves for his first NHL win in the Arizona Coyotes' 4-1 victory against the Nashville Predators at Mullett Arena on Thursday.

Prosvetov, 24, was recalled from Tucson of the American Hockey League at midday because Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong wants to evaluate prospects. He made his fifth NHL start and first since allowing five goals April 4, 2022, against the St. Louis Blues.
Prosvetov was 16-13-4 with a .900 save percentage and one shutout at Tucson.
"I was working on my bike and was expecting to go to [play at] Milwaukee, and they called me and said You're playing tonight,'" Prosvetov said. "I said,OK, I'm ready.' It was exciting news."
Brett Ritchie had a goal in his Arizona debut, and Barrett Hayton and Jack McBain scored 49 seconds apart in the third period for the Coyotes (23-32-10), who won their second straight after losing three in a row. Clayton Keller had two assists.

Cody Glass scored, and Juuse Saros made 39 saves for the Predators (31-24-7), who lost their second straight after winning five of six. Nashville's five-game road point streak (4-0-1) ended.
"We had a couple of [video] clips of [Prosvetov], but it's just another goalie where you've got to get in his eyes," Glass said. "You can't make it easy on him…Finally, in the third period, we started to get some shots through with screens. [But] he had a good game."
The Predators are six points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"We had some looks, but I just thought they had a little bit more edge to their game," Nashville coach John Hynes said.
Ritchie made it 1-0 at 8:45 of the first period, cutting across the top of the crease to tip in J.J. Moser's shot from above the right circle. Ritchie was acquired March 3 in a trade that sent brother Nick Ritchie to the Calgary Flames, but visa issues delayed his Coyotes debut.
"That's just the hockey gods," said Ritchie, who had six goals in 34 games with the Flames. "They give you a bounce early. That seems to always happen, guys playing in their first game score on their first shot."

Hayton made it 2-0 at 11:41 of the third period with a power-play goal, putting in his own rebound after following up Keller's shot from the edge of the right circle.
McBain extended it to 3-0 at 12:30 when Saros went wide to deflect Lawson Crouse's shot from the left circle, leaving the net open for McBain to put in the rebound.
Glass scored with two minutes remaining to cut it to 3-1 before Nick Schmaltz scored an empty-net goal with 37 seconds left for the 4-1 final. It was Schmaltz's third straight game with a goal.
The Predators couldn't score on four power plays in the first two periods and were 0-for-6 overall after going 7-for-17 in their previous seven games.
"[We were] getting all of those goals with really good shots, creating havoc and getting the puck back and making plays off that," Glass said. "We didn't really do that today."
Prosvetov's best save came at 2:30 of the second after Schmaltz's turnover created a Ryan McDonagh breakaway, but Prosvetov made the save and Kiefer Sherwood's follow-up also missed.
"You see all the big goalies in the NHL make those saves, and they come from practice, you have to battle on every shot," Prosvetov said. "Then hopefully you make one in a game, maybe one in 10 games."
Prosvetov's initial concern was getting to Mullett Arena. The normally 90-minute drive from Tucson took so long, he feared he might arrive too late to play.
"I think the fact Ivan was called up today brought a little bit of urgency into our room, [because] we rely on the other two (Karel Vejmelka and Connor Ingram) so much," Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. "You saw it in the first 50 minutes, we were way more stingy defensively and we did a lot of good things."
NOTES: Arizona allowed four power-play goals in its previous three games. … Prosvetov was 0-3-1 with a 4.19 goals-against average in four NHL starts across the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. … Schmaltz has seven goals in his past nine games. … Keller has 65 points (26 goals, 39 assists) to tie his career high set in 2017-18. … The Coyotes are 16-11-3 at home.