Kuemper shines in shutout performance

*Photo from Arizona Sports*

   Arizona Coyotes goaltender Darcy Kuemper is a number one goalie. He has proven that several times over. Tonight, he proved it again. Kuemper stopped 24 shots, Clayton Keller scored, and the Coyotes shut out the St.Louis Blues with a 1-0 victory on Monday. The Coyotes possess 3rd place in the NHL's West Division with the win, which is a playoff spot. 

   Keller scored the game's lone goal, which came in the second period. At the 5:21 mark of the second, Keller took the feed from Nick Schmaltz and sent it past Blues goalie Jordan Binnington to give Arizona the 1-0 lead, which remained for the rest of the game. 

   Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said of the win that "If you're going to win in the playoffs, you've got to win ugly games. It's a 1-0 game, the puck was bouncing. It was a muck and grind type of game. There was a lot of everything. You've got to win these games. You've got to close them out. And we did."

   Kuemper stopped all 24 shots that came his way, earning the win and improving his record to 5-6-1 this season. On the other side, Binnington stopped 18 of 19 shots that came his way, with the only hiccup being the goal by Keller in the second. Binnington's record dropped to 7-3-2 this season.

   Keller talked about what went in to his goal, saying that "Schmaltzy is over the top and he makes an unbelievable play to me. It's good to see one find the back of the net there. I had a lot of shots last game. I just kind of stuck with it, picked my spot and shot as hard as I can, and it went in." 

   Tocchet talked about Kuemper's performance, saying that "You guys know what I think about Darcy. Very rarely is there a bad effort. He's always there for us. And tonight, again. It's just his demeanor. The guys want to play in front of him because his demeanor is always the same. He never blames anybody else but himself. He was terrific tonight, again."

   The Blues don't play until Thursday, when they welcome the San Jose Sharks to town. The Coyotes also don't play until Thursday, when they host the Los Angeles Kings.