Tag: Arizona Coyotes

Arizona Coyotes center Nick Schmaltz (8) shoots the puck past San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro (38) during the second period at Mullet Arena in Tempe on Tue Jan 10, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Tuesday, January 10, 2023

TEMPE, Ariz. – For the most part, the San Jose Sharks (13-21-8) enjoyed their first visit to the intimate ambiance of Mullett Arena. Picking up two badly needed points in the NHL Pacific standings didn’t hurt either.

Matt Nieto’s tie-breaking goal less than 10 seconds into the third period put the Sharks ahead to stay in a 4-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes (13-22-5) Tuesday at the new 4,800-seat home for Arizona State hockey and the temporary residence of the Coyotes.

“It was fun,” Nieto said of the Mullett Arena experience. “It felt just like juniors and it’s even better that we got the two points.”

Sharks center Logan Couture said, “Different is a good word for it. It’s a unique experience. I enjoyed it. It brings me back to my days when I was playing in the OHL in a bunch of arenas about this size – Windsor, Kingston, London. It had that familiar feel. The ice was great.”

Sharks right wing Kevin Labanc said, “It felt like I was playing in juniors again. It was a fun barn and I look forward to playing in it the next time.”

Nieto broke a 2-2 tie nine seconds into the third period with his eighth goal of the season, beating Coyotes’ netminder Karel Vejmelka from just outside the crease, knocking in a rebound off the initial shot by Couture.

“It was just a great forecheck,” Nieto said. “Barbie (Alexander Barabanov) worked hard to go get it, gave it to Cooch (Logan Couture) who gave it to me. It wound up in the net and it was such a momentum builder for us.”

Defenseman Jaycob Megna, who also assisted on the Nieto goal, added an insurance tally for San Jose (13-21-8, 34 points) with his first goal of the season at 14:10 of the third period. Megna scored on a one-timer from just inside the blue line, beating Vejmelka, who was screened on the play.

“I liked how we started the third period, getting the goal early,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “I thought we did a pretty good job after that, not giving them much. The PK had some big kills that we needed, and Kaapo (Kahkonen) was good in the net. So it’s a good way to start the second half.”

Nico Sturm scored the equalizer for San Jose at 5:59 of the second period when he converted a rebound off the initial shot by Nick Bonino, placing it in the top shelf over the shoulder of Coyotes’ netminder Karel Vejmelka.

San Jose opened the scoring at 4:39 of the first period when Kevin Labanc picked up a loose puck in traffic and shot it past Vejmelka on the glove side. Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier had the assists as the Sharks took a 1-0 lead.

Less than two minutes later, Barrett Hayton scored the equalizer for Arizona (13-22-5, 31 points). Hayton, on assists from Shane Gostisbehere and Jakob Chychrun, cruised across the slot area and flipped a backhand shot past Kaapo Kahkonen glove side.

The Coyotes took a 2-1 lead at 16:21 of the opening period when Christian Fischer fired a wrist shot from the edge of the left circle, beating Kahkonen on the glove side into a wide open net.

“I was a little disappointed when we came out strong in the first period. Then I thought we got a little sloppy,” Quinn said. “But I thought we responded well after being down 2-1 with a pretty good second period.”

Arizona’s Josh Brown and the Sharks’ Michael Eyssimont dropped the gloves at 19:21 of the first period. Each player received a 5-minute major for fighting.

Kahkonen stopped 27 of Arizona’s 29 shots on goal. Vejmelka faced 33 San Jose shots, making 29 saves.

The Coyotes were 0-for-4 on the power play, while San Jose was 0-for-2.

“The PK was pretty good,” Nieto said. “We were blocking shots, doing the little things, clearing the puck out, doing the hard work that you need to do. It’s no surprise that (our penalty kill) is in the top five in the NHL.”

The Sharks’ road trip continues when they visit the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. San Jose returns to SAP Center to host Edmonton on Friday.

San Jose Sharks center Nick Bonino (13) celebrates with teammates after scoring against the Arizona Coyotes during the first period at SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Dec 13, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Tuesday, December 13, 2022

San Jose used early goals from Tomas Hertl, Nick Bonino and Nico Sturm in addition to a stellar effort in the nets from James Reimer, as the Sharks held off Arizona 3-2 Tuesday in a Western Conference matchup at SAP Center.

The Sharks, mired in sixth place in the NHL Pacific, improved to 10-16-5, 25 points. Arizona, playing its 15th road game in their last 17 contests to accommodate the construction schedule of Arizona State’s Mullet Arena in Tempe, is 9-14-4, 22 points in the Central Division.

Hertl’s 10th goal of the season, assisted by Radim Simek and Scott Harrington, put the Sharks on the board at 3:50 of the first period. Just over one minute later, Bonino scored his fourth goal, from Erik Karlsson and Jonah Gadjovich, putting the Sharks up 2-0.

With San Jose’s Oskar Lindblom (hooking) and Bonino (tripping) both serving minor penalties, the Coyotes took advantage of the 5-on-3 power play with a goal by Lawson Crouse – his team-leading 13th – at 18:05, cutting the Sharks lead to 2-1 at the first intermission.

Sturm’s eighth goal of the season, from Bonino and Harrington, extended the Sharks’ lead to 3-1 at 8:09 of the second period. Arizona closed the gap to 3-2 at 2:56 of the third period on Nick Bjugstad’s sixth goal.

The Coyotes went to a sixth attacker with just over two minutes to play and hit the pipe twice, but was unable to take advantage of San Jose being called for icing three times after the Sharks missed hitting the empty Coyotes net.

Reimer stopped 20 of 22 Arizona shots, while Coyotes netminder Karel Vejmelka made 30 saves.

The Sharks will try to extend their two-game winning streak on Saturday night in Los Angeles against the Kings.

Training staff and doctors attend the Arizona Coyotes Clayton Keller (9) who got his skate caught under the dasher boards and suffered a broken femur and was carted off the ice vs. the San Jose Sharks at Gila River Arena Glendale on Wed Mar 30, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Wednesday, March 30, 2022

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Jan Jenik scored his first two goals of the season, both assisted by Phil Kessel, as the Arizona Coyotes snapped a six-game losing streak, defeating the visiting San Jose Sharks 5-2 Wednesday at Gila River Arena.

Jenik has scored four goals in his NHL career– all of them against the Sharks.

Both teams are in the midst of a rebuild andnot headed to the postseason. San Jose is sixth in the NHL Pacific Division with66 points (29-29-8); the Coyotes are eighth in the Central Division with 43points (21-45-1).

Jenik’s second goal of the game put the Coyotes ahead 3-2 at 7:11 of the third period. For the second time in the game,Kessel assisted Jenik, who took a pass from the veteran while positioned in the slot, beating San Jose goaltender James Reimer.

Barrett Hayton scored an insurance tally for Arizona at 17:02 of the third period, just after teammate Clayton Keller was taken from the ice on a stretcher with an undisclosed injury. The Coyotes’ Nick Schmaltz tacked on an unassisted empty-netter at 19:14, his 20th goal of the season.

“It looked like (Keller) lost his balance and hit the boards hard. You could see he was in a lot of pain,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said. “At a time like that, all your thoughts are on him, and you have to give him his space. But when you start playing again, you have to regroup and we didn’t, and they got that fourth goal right away.”

San Jose outshot the Coyotes 42-24. Karel Vejmelka made 40 saves, including all 11 shots he faced in the third period.Reimer was credited with 19 saves, facing 13 shots in the first two periods.
On the Sharks’ third period defensive collapse, Couture added, “(Reimer) made some big saves for us tonight, but he can’t make all of them.”

Arizona took a 2-1 lead at 8:33 of the second period on Jenik’s first goal of the season on a clever assist Kessel. From the trapezoid behind Reimer, Kessel picked up a loose puck and flipped a backhand pass to the slot area that found Jenik, who converted a one-timer to Reimer’s stick side.

Brent Burns responded with his seventh goal of the season, tying the game at 2-2 at the 14:07 mark of the second period.Burns fired a low shot through traffic in front of the net and past Vejmelka.

The Sharks used a power play goal to open the scoring at 12:13 of the first period. Scott Reedy was parked near the crease and redirected a shot from the right point by Ryan Merkley, beating Vejmelka to the glove side.

Nick Ritchie’s 10th goal of the season provided the equalizer at 15:46 of the first period for the Coyotes.Schmaltz was skating in from the right and sent a pass to the blade of Ritchie’s stick, and the puck was steered past Reimer’s right skate just inside the goal post.

The Sharks’ next game is Thursday in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche.

SHARK BITES: San Jose’s pregame scratches were Jonah Gadjovich, Radim Simek, Jonathan Dahlen ad Matt Nieto. … This was the Sharks’ final visit to Gila River Arena, as the Coyotes are moving to Arizona State’s new 5,000-seat college hockey arena in Tempe for the next three seasons. To accommodate NHL expansion to Seattle, Arizona moved to the NHL Central Division this year, thus, the two longtime Pacific Division rivals only met twice this season.