Blues score twice short-handed in 2nd, rally to defeat Coyotes

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Nick Leddy and Alexey Toropchenko scored short-handed goals 33 seconds apart, and the St. Louis Blues rallied for a 6-5 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena on Wednesday.

Kevin Hayes scored the game-winning goal at 4:13 of the third period for the Blues (10-7-1), who came back from deficits of 3-2 and 5-4 for their fifth win in seven games.

“I don't think either team entered into tonight's game thinking that was going to be the outcome. A lot of goals went in, in crazy ways,” Hayes said. “I felt like every shot there for a little bit was going in.”

Brayden Schenn, Colton Parayko and Robert Thomas each scored for St. Louis, Brandon Saad had two assists, and Joel Hofer saved all 12 shots faced in relief of Jordan Binnington (eight saves on 13 shots).

Michael Carcone and Nick Bjugstad each had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes (8-9-2), who lost their third straight. Matias Maccelli had two assists, and Connor Ingram made 18 saves after replacing Karel Vejmelka (seven saves on 11 shots).

“It was a poor defensive effort, a bunch of bad decisions. Score five goals, should be an easy win,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “That's not the first time [for a defensive breakdown this season], but that’s really disappointing.”

Hayes scored the decisive goal on a breakaway.

“They tried to rim the puck, but Torey [Krug] cut it off and when I saw he had full possession, I took off and cheated a little bit and it worked in my favor,” Hayes said. “He found `Saader’ and Saader found me, and it was just a breakaway goal.”

Schenn’s breakaway goal put St. Louis ahead 1-0 at 8:47 of the first period for his 600th NHL point (246 goals, 354 assists). 

“I think the structure kind of falls out the window a little bit when you play games like that, it's back and forth and goals are going in,” Schenn said. “But at the end of the day, we got two points and we'll move on.”

Bjugstad’s wrist shot from the left face-off circle tied it 1-1 at 10:40.

The Blues regained the lead 2-1 at 12:15 on Parayko’s slap shot from the right point.

After Saad couldn’t score on a 2-on-1 rush, Jason Zucker made it 2-2 at 18:06 on a tip-in.

Lawson Crouse’s ninth goal in 11 games gave Arizona a 3-2 lead 22 seconds into the second period.

Leddy scored short-handed to tie it 3-3 at 3:40 before Toropchenko restored the Blues lead at 4:13 on the same power play.

It was their sixth short-handed goal of the season, tying the Dallas Stars for most in the NHL.

“We want to stay aggressive on the penalty kill and do things the right way, and we got rewarded for doing things right,” Toropchenko said.

Carcone’s goal at 6:56 made it 4-4, and Nick Schmaltz put Arizona back in the lead 5-4 at 8:00 with their second goal in 1:04. 

Thomas tied it 5-5 at 10:49 of the second period, putting in a rebound from Jordan Kyrou’s shot.

“These are games we feel like we should win. … Offensively we produced, but I’m disappointed for everyone in the room,” Bjugstad said. “That one hurts.”

There were no lead changes in the Blues first 17 games of the season before four in the final two periods against the Coyotes.

“There were a lot of momentum swings. I think we battled through adversity, which is good,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “We didn’t score on a 5-on-3 [in the third period], but we didn’t break. We stayed with it.”

NOTES: The Blues also scored two short-handed goals on Nov. 11 in an 8-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche. Pavel Buchnevich scored both. … St. Louis is 8-0-0 when scoring three goals or more and 9-0-0 this season when scoring first. ... Maccelli has at least one point in all eight Arizona home games, tying Igor Korolev’s 1995-96 team record to start a season. … The Coyotes allowed a short-handed goal for the second straight game. … Arizona began a stretch of six consecutive games against the past five Stanley Cup champions (the Blues twice, the Vegas Golden Knights, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Washington Capitals and the Avalanche). ... Schmaltz has nine goals in his past 12 games against St. Louis.