Arizona Coyotes defenseman makes NHL debut vs. Dallas Stars

Against one of the best teams in the NHL, the Arizona Coyotes hung tough for almost 60 minutes. However, the result wasn’t what they wanted. 

The Coyotes had several opportunities to seize the game, but the Dallas Stars remained firm, scoring a late goal from Miro Heiskanen to pull ahead. The Coyotes (29-37-5) couldn’t gain the momentum back and let in an empty net goal, falling 4-2 at Mullett Arena on Sunday. 

“I liked our performance, I hate the result,” head coach Andre Tourigny said. “I would had loved our players to have something to show for. They worked extremely hard and showed a lot of pride. It’s frustrating for them.” 

Clayton Keller scored for the fifth-straight game, beating out Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger from a tough angle at 18:44 in the first. His 30^th goal of the season made him the third skater in Coyotes team history with consecutive seasons of 30 or more goals, following Jeremy Roenick (1999-01) and Keith Tkachuk (1996-99). 

The Coyotes will continue the ongoing seven-game homestand with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Keeping it tight 

The Coyotes once again dealt with a high traffic of shots from their opponent early on. After blocking 10 shots from the Seattle Kraken in Friday’s opening period, the Coyotes didn’t have a layoff against the Stars, blocking a season-high 11 shots. 

Connor Ingram recovered quickly after letting in the Stars’ first shot on net, a slap shot from Jamie Benn that was screened by Logan Stankoven at 4:21. Ingram faced 11 shots on goal in the first, but remained poised throughout several penalty kills. 

Ingram finished with 31 saves on 34 shots, including six saves on all power plays. 

“He was good. I think that he made some situations that were extremely tough look easy. He played solid and gave us an opportunity to win,” Tourigny said. 

Penalties, penalties 

Special teams played a huge role as both teams spent a combined 18 minutes in the box.  The middle portion of the first period was especially cluttered with six penalty minutes that overworked special teams', including a rare 4-on-3 for the Stars.  

However, the Coyotes were gifted a break when the Stars couldn’t get anything past the defense and Ingram.  

The turning point of the game came in the third period when Nick Bjugstad’s rebound from Logan Cooley’s shot tied the game at 7:26 in the third after a power play expired. Not long after, the Stars made costly mistakes, giving the Coyotes a 5-on-3 opportunity. However, the Coyotes only registered two shots on goal and missed two opportunities. 

“If you don’t score, you give momentum to the other team and they scored another one after,” Tourigny said. 

Crotty comes in last-minute 

Defenseman Cameron Crotty made his NHL debut after being called up from the Tucson Roadrunners of the American Hockey League to fill in for Josh Brown, who was dealing with an illness. 

Crotty, who was drafted in the third round by the Coyotes in 2017, was on a road trip in San Jose with the Roadrunners when he got the call. He logged four hits in 10 minutes of ice time.

“It caught me off guard. I was rolling out of bed to my phone vibrating earlier than I thought it would be. I think it was 7:30 in the morning, but I was thrilled,” Crotty said. “It was a great experience for me and I'll never forget it.”