*Photo from NHL.com*
No more losing streak for the desert dogs. Lawson Crouse scored two goals, Shayne Gostisbehere added two assists, and the Arizona Coyotes defeated the Carolina Hurricanes with a 4-0 victory on Wednesday night in Raleigh.
Entering the road showdown in the middle of a 4 game losing streak, the Coyotes picked up a win to end the skid, but also picking up their 5th win in their last 10 games, including points in 6 of the last 10. Dylan Guenther joined Crouse and Gostibehere with a two point game, notching a pair of assists.
Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny said of snapping the losing streak that "We played with a desperation. We took pride in our defense, and that paid off I think. Not saying that was an easy shutout, I don't mean that at all. Vejmelka was unbelievable. He had a team in front of him with an urgency to defend. That was cool to see."
Nick Schmaltz got the Coyotes ahead early on in the game, scoring his first goal of the season 1:06 into the game, going down as the only goal of the first period. After a scoreless second period, Crouse scored just 1:52 into the 3rd period, doubling the lead to 2-0 with Guenther and JJ Moser assisting on the goal.
A little more than 7 minutes later, Nick Bjugstad increased the lead to 3-0, scoring 9:14 into the period with assists from Guenther and Gostisbehere on his 4th goal of the season. Crouse then scored an empty net goal with 2:07 left in regulation, making the score 4-0 on his second goal of the night, assisted by Gostisbehere and Jakob Chychrun.
Getting the start in the road showdown for the Coyotes was Karel Vejmelka, who recorded the 3rd shutout of his NHL career and second of the season. Vejmelka stopped all 36 shots from the Hurricanes in the win, increasing his record to 6-5-1 in 12 starts this season.
Starting in net for the Hurricanes was Pyotr Kochetkov, who couldn't keep up his recent run of success and took the loss. Kochetkov saw his record drop to 2-1-2 in 5 starts, saving 23 out of 26 shots on goal from the Coyotes, recording a .885 save percentage.
Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said of the loss that "At some point we've got to have some emotion and get going and really start pushing each other. Something's got to change. We kind of felt like the puck wasn't going in, and we kind of just slowly faded away."
Up next, the Coyotes head to Detroit for a Friday matchup against the Detroit Red Wings, with Vejmelka in line to start. Antti Raanta is the projected starter for the Hurricanes when they face the Boston Bruins on Friday.
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