Coyotes Complete Wild Comeback at Minny

Down 3-0 in the second period and facing a fourth straight loss coming out of the NHL All-Star Break, the Arizona Coyotes came roaring back with one of their biggest comeback wins of the season on Thursday night.
Clayton Keller's first goal since New Year's Eve, a blistering shot into the far top corner of the net 3:55 into overtime, completed the rally and gave Arizona a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.

"Everyone has been really good to me (during the drought). Coach Tocchet is doing video with me every time I've asked him and helping me before and after practice on my shot," said Keller, who had gone 13 games without a goal. "When you score goals like that, it's such a good feeling that it motivates you to work that much harder."
Nick Cousins had two goals for Arizona and tied the score with 18.3 seconds left in regulation after the Coyotes pulled goalie Antti Raanta. Derek Stepan set up Cousins with a nifty pass out of the deep corner and across the blue paint where Cousins was waiting.
Suddenly red-hot Kevin Connuaton scored his third goal in the last four games to start the third-period comeback. Stepan and Alex Goligoski had two assists each.
"We carried the play in the third period with a big goal by (Connauton) and when you pull the goalie anything can happen," said Cousins, who has nine goals this season and four in the last six games.

Raanta made 25 saves and two huge ones that set the stage for the comeback. He stoned Jason Zucker all alone inside to keep the game 3-1 in the third period, just before Connauton took a Stepan pass and beat Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk with a sneaky wrist shot by the glove at 8:02 to bring Arizona within a goal.
Then in overtime, when the Wild had the puck for most of the first three minutes, Raanta had a huge save all alone against Zach Parise to keep the game going and set the stage for Keller.
The Coyotes, who allowed three goals in the first period at Winnipeg on Tuesday including one 30 seconds into play, had a much better start but Minnesota got the only goal.
Raanta made a nice pad save on Nino Niederreiter's bid to jam home the puck, but the Wild kept possession and Jared Spurgeon fed Eric Staal for his 24th goal at 8:04.
The Wild dominated the first 10 minutes of the second period and doubled the lead at 5:54 when Matt Cullen got behind Connauton, took a pass from Gustav Olofsson and beat Raanta with a backhander under the bar.
Just 4:04 later, Mike Reilly settled down a puck that popped up off the skate of Cullen and surprised Raanta with a quick shot low to the short side, suddenly the Coyotes were in a 3-0 hole.
Arizona had to change the momentum and Cousins provided a jolt with a big play.
Pulling the puck off the boards, Cousins threw a cross-ice pass to Goligoski and immediately sprinted to the slot. Goligoski gave the puck back to Cousins and he beat Dubnyk under the crossbar.
After two periods, the Coyotes trailed 3-1 but had more shots, shot attempts, scoring chances and face-off wins - and the Wild had allowed an NHL-worst 70 goals in the third period.
The stage was set. And the unlikely offensive hero of late got it started.
Connauton, who had one goal in his first 42 games, scored his third in four games since the All-Star Break and the Coyotes were within a goal at 3-2.
"We had some belief in the locker room and I think that's something we've been lacking," Connauton said. "I'm just trying to get pucks to the net and shoot every chance I get. Take more snap shots and get them away quicker."

With Raanta pulled for a sixth attacker, Connauton hit the post with 55 seconds left, but Cousins got a second chance and didn't miss.
"We got them on their heels in that third period and it was probably one of our better periods of the season," Cousins said.
NOTES
• The Coyotes played without forward Christian Fischer, who missed the game with a lower-body injury.
• Tobias Rieder, who had one goal in the last 29 games and was a healthy scratch for the 4-3 loss at the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, returned to the lineup.
• Defenseman Jason Demers, who missed the last three games with an upper-body injury, returned and replaced Luke Schenn on the blueline.