A night after their biggest winning margin of the year, the Coyotes flew to San Jose and earned two more points the hard way.
Goalies Scott Wedgewood and Antti Raanta combined to make 40 saves and defensemen Kevin Connauton and Alex Goligoski provided all the Arizona offense in a hard-fought 2-1 win over the Sharks at SAP Center.
Wedgewood had 28 saves in two periods but was barreled over by Timo Meier of the Sharks 28 seconds into the third period and left with an upper-body injury. But Raanta came in, made 12 saves and helped fend off the hard-charging Sharks to finish off the win.
Goligoski, Goaltending Power Coyotes to Second Straight Win
"I wasn't at my sharpest but my teammates were blocking shots, taking sticks away and pushing guys around so I could see the shots," Raanta said. "'Wedgie' was playing an unreal game so it was tough to see him leave.
"At first, my thought was I was just going to be there a couple of minutes and hopefully get out. Then I knew he wasn't coming back, so now I need to shut the door."
Playing in his 700th NHL game, Goligoski scored the game-winning goal in the second period and helped Raanta by sweeping a potential game-tying goal out of the crease in the third to extend the Coyotes' points streak to four games (3-0-1).
"How about Goligoski?" Raanta said. "Play in 700 games, score a goal, save a goal … What else are you going to ask of one guy?"
In claiming seven of eight points, the blueline has led the way. The defensemen have 17 points over the last five games, with Connauton (four), Goligoski (three) and Jason Demers (one) providing the goals.
Arizona had a season-high six goals in a 6-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday and the red-hot defense corps picked right up where it left off.
Nick Cousins deflected a Brad Richardson shot and hit the post. The puck slid out into the blue paint and Connuaton pounced on the rebound and pushed it past San Jose goalie Martin Jones at 7:38 of the first period.
"(Cousins) got a good tip on the shot and I thought it went in there … but I saw the puck sitting there and took a punch at it," Connauton said.
It was his fifth goal of the year and fourth (to go along with two assists) in the last seven games. Connuaton now has as many goals in the last seven games as he did in his first 104 games with Arizona.
Cousins has seven points in his last nine games, and the assist was Richardson's 200th career NHL point.
Ex-Coyote Mikkel Boedker answered quickly for the Sharks, deflecting a Justin Braun shot up over Wedgewood and into the top corner of the net at 9:20 of the first period. Boedker's eighth goal was his first in 11 games.
Wedgewood made 11 saves in the first period including a nice stop on Danny O'Regan shortly after the Boedker goal to keep the game even.
The Coyotes jumped back in front after a Logan Couture holding penalty gave them a power play. With Christian Fischer creating traffic in front, Goligoski put a shot from the top of the right circle by Jones at 9:35 to make it 2-1 Arizona.
Goligoski's eighth goal was his third in as many games, matching the longest streak of his career, and he has seven points over that span.
"It was a great power-play breakout and a hell of a shot by (Goligoski)," Head Coach Rick Tocchet said. "He's gotten better as the season has gone on and I think he likes playing in this system. He plays a lot of minutes and he's embracing the fact he's an older guy and wants to teach the younger guys. That's 700 games, but he has a lot of hockey left in him."
Wedgewood made 17 saves in the second period - two of them off his mask including a Brent Burns shot that hit him square in the facemask. His best saves came in the final two minutes against Melker Karlsson and Chris Tierney just before the buzzer.
But 28 seconds into the third period on a San Jose power play, Meier barreled into Wedgewood's blind side and sent him to the ice. He left the game and was replaced by Raanta.
"Having not seen a shot and having to come in for a power play? That's probably the worst situation for a goalie," Tocchet said. "Both goalies were stars for us tonight."
Raanta got a big assist when Goligoski swept a puck away from the goal line and then went post-to-post to rob Jannik Hansen with 16:09 left to keep Arizona ahead. The Sharks moved Burns from defense to forward when Tomas Hertl left with an injury to get more pressure, but Arizona held on to close out the win.
Note
• Richard Panik, who has gone eight straight games without a point, sat as a healthy scratch for the first time since being traded to Arizona last month. Josh Archibald took his place in the lineup.
