Coyotes recover late against Kraken, get first win of season

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Coyotes recovered late to win their first game of the season, 5-4 against the Seattle Kraken at Gila River Arena on Saturday.

Mark Giordano tied it 4-4 for the Kraken with 1:18 remaining and goalie Philipp Grubauer pulled for the extra attacker, but Lawson Crouse responded 13 seconds later with his second of the game to put the Coyotes back in front 5-4 with 1:05 left.
"That's the ideal way to answer back when they tie it up late," Crouse said. "We just stuck with it, and we're obviously happy, very happy, to get this one out of the way."
Phil Kessel, Travis Boyd and Antoine Roussel scored, and Shayne Gostisbehere had three assists for the Coyotes (1-10-1), whose streak without a win to begin the season was tied for the longest in their history (2017-18), and tied for the second longest in NHL history.

Scott Wedgewood, who was claimed off waivers from the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, made 27 saves after replacing Karel Vejmelka. He also got the win when Arizona ended its streak in 2017-18 against the Philadelphia Flyers, who were at the time coached by Dave Hakstol, now the Seattle coach.
"I don't know what it is about 'Wedgy,' but obviously he played an incredible game for us when he came in," said Crouse, who is one of four remaining teammates from when Wedgewood played for Arizona that season.
The Coyotes were playing the second game of a back-to-back after losing 3-1 to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday, so Wedgewood didn't even know all of his teammates.
"The legs are shaking a little bit," he said. "You're with a new team, you know what's at stake and you know you're down early, and just want to keep them in it. We started coming back and gained momentum, and we started to find our game."
Grubauer made 17 saves for the Kraken (4-7-1), who have lost three of their past four games.
"Our focus wasn't there," Hakstol said. "Our awareness wasn't there and that's indicative of a couple of the goals-against."
Jordan Eberle gave Seattle a 1-0 lead 15 seconds into the game, scoring with a backhand near the right post after corralling a loose puck behind the net.
Yanni Gourde then scored 44 seconds later on the Kraken's second shot of the game to make it 2-0 at 59 seconds. Vejmelka was pulled following the goal.

Roussel cut it to 2-1 at 1:33, shooting glove side on a 2-on-1, but Nathan Bastian pushed the lead to 3-1 with his first of the season at 11:04.
"This was a big lesson for us," Bastian said. "Coming out with the lead that early, you have to learn how to finish teams off, and we weren't able to do that."
Boyd made it 3-2 at 3:12 of the second period, and Crouse tied it 3-3 when he beat Grubauer glove side from the top of the right circle 46 seconds into the third period.
Kessel then gave Arizona a 4-3 lead at 13:34 with a power-play goal.
"We're proud of the way we bounced back," said Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny, who got his first NHL win. "I thought we played for 60 minutes. We weren't perfect, we will never be perfect, but we stayed with it. We believed in ourselves and what we had to do, and we found a way."
NOTES:Arizona had been outscored 15-3 in its previous five games.…Seattle is the fourth NHL team to score two goals in the opening minute of a road game in the past 20 years. … The Kraken were 0-for-2 on the power play and are 3-for-38 this season. … Crouse's two-goal game was the first of his NHL career. … The New York Rangers own the longest streak to begin a season without a win in NHL history, going 0-14 with one tie in 1943-44. … Kraken forward Ryan Donato (upper body) left the game at 15:55 of the first period after crashing into the boards.