Cooley Records First Career Hat Trick, Coyotes Top Preds on Thursday

STATS

Former Coyotes forward Jason Zucker was all smiles after giving the Nashville Predators a 2-0 lead early in the first period on Thursday.

His good friend Logan Cooley, though, got the last laugh.

Cooley recorded his first NHL hat trick, Clayton Keller notched four points for the third time in his career, and Nick Bjugstad, Nick Schmaltz, Jack McBain, and Matias Maccelli also scored as the Arizona Coyotes topped the Nashville Predators 8-4 at Mullett Arena on Thursday. Connor Ingram made 33 saves to earn his 20th win of the season.

Josh Doan finished with two assists, marking his second consecutive two-point game, while Schmaltz also notched two points on the night. Cooley's hat trick was also his first career multi-goal game, and the 19-year-old now has 16 goals and 21 assists in 73 games this season. He's the second-youngest Coyotes player to record their first career hat trick, behind only Peter Mueller.

"It's a special moment," Cooley said. "It was a good team effort. I thought we started off a little slow, but I thought we found our game after that, we played the right way, we played Yotes hockey, and that's the outcome we'll get when we do that."

Arizona has won two straight and three of its last four.

Jason Zucker scored twice and Gustav Nyquist and Filip Forsberg each added goals, but the Predators fell in regulation for the first time in 19 games. Juuse Saros took the loss after making 21 saves through two periods before being replaced by Kevin Lankinen to start the third period.

Lankinen stopped all 11 shots he faced in the final frame.

Keller's four-point output was the third such game of his career, and his first March 5, 2022. Nashville suffered its first regulation loss since falling 9-2 to the Dallas Stars on Feb. 15.

"I was happy about the gameplan after the first 10 minutes," head coach André Tourigny said. "We started to play our A-game in the second period. Even though it was tied in the first, we got opportunistic in our chances."

Keller, Bjugstad, and Schmaltz matched up against Nashville's top line of Forsberg, Ryan O'Reilly, and Gustav Nyquist -- which has combined for 210 points this season -- and the Predators' top line did not register an even-strength point on Thursday.

"For me, that sometimes goes under the radar, and it's so important," Tourigny said. "O'Reilly, Forsberg, and Nyquist are an elite line in the NHL, and I think Kells' line with Bjugstad and Schmaltz had a lot of heavy lifting tonight, and they did a really good job."

Nashville, did get off to a hot start, though, and it came from a familiar face.

Zucker opened the scoring at 2:22 of the first period with a wrister past Ingram and then added his second of the game just under three minutes later to give the Predators a quick 2-0 lead. The 32-year-old has four goals and one assist in nine games since he was traded from the Arizona to Nashville at the 2024 trade deadline.

Zucker and Cooley grew close throughout the course of the season, but no love was lost once the puck dropped on Thursday.

"Definitely wasn't good seeing that," Cooley said of Zucker's first two goals. "It's just being resilient and trying to find ways to win. We know they were on a streak and they're playing some really good hockey."

The Coyotes got on the board eight minutes into the first after Josh Doan forced a turnover in the offensive zone and found McBain, who spun around and slipped the puck through Saros. Cooley then tied it up at 17:00 of the opening frame after he accelerated into the zone and beat Saros five-hole to even it up.

Keller gave the Coyotes a 3-2 lead 7:11 into the second with a power-play goal, playing tic-tac-toe with Alex Kerfoot and Dylan Guenther before one-timing a shot from the right circle past Saros.

"I think we all were confident in the gameplan and how to be successful against them," Keller said. "I think we did a good job after we made a couple mistakes and we were able to score some goals."

Cooley gave Arizona a two-goal lead exactly one minute later, again using his speed to maneuver around the defense before beating Saros far-side.

Nyquist briefly brought Nashville back to within one with a power-play goal at 11:08, but Bjugstad’s partial breakaway goal just over a minute later restored the Coyotes’ two-goal lead. Schmaltz then added another at 16:05 to send Arizona into the second intermission with a three-goal lead.

"That was definitely a high-intensity game," Keller said. "You could just tell, everyone was into it. There were a couple hits, a couple fights, and those were the fun ones to play in."

Maccelli added an empty-net goal at 13:57 to make it 7-3 and Forsberg added a power-play goal to make it 7-4 before Cooley solidified his hat trick with an empty-netter.

"When he stays composed, he's a really, really good player," Tourigny said. "I'm happy for him, I think his line is doing a really good job."

The Coyotes are back in action on Saturday, facing the New York Rangers in the fifth game of their current seven-game homestand. Puck drop is scheduled for 3 pm, and the game will be broadcast on Arizona 61 (TV) and ESPN 620 (Radio).