Coyotes Fall to Wild at Mullett Arena on Thursday

STATS

Clayton Keller and Michael Carcone scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 23 saves, but the Arizona Coyotes fell 5-2 to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.

Kirill Kaprizov, Zach Bogosian, Joel Eriksson Ek, Brock Faber, and Connor Dewar scored for the Wild, who won their second straight game. Both Faber and Dewar's goals came with an empty net in the waning minutes, putting the game out of reach after a close, back-and-forth contest.

Marc-André Fleury made 23 saves to earn his 13th win of the season.

"It was a good game, we played well," head coach André Tourigny said. "We had Grade-A chances and their goalie made really good saves."

The Coyotes and Wild close out their season series on Tuesday in Minnesota.

The game also marked the NHL debut of defenseman Patrik Koch, who was recalled from the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners earlier in the day. The 27-year-old logged 9:20 of ice time while finishing with one shot and goal and a plus/minus of zero.

Koch said he was at a park with his children when he received the call up, and though the end result was not what he had hoped for, it was still an unforgettable day.

"It was a dream come true," Koch said. "It's been a dream since I was a small boy, so it was an amazing feeling, but I feel like we could have won the game, so that's what I'm not very happy about right now."

Tourigny said he was pleased with how Koch played in his debut.

"He competed and he played hard," Tourigny said. "He played his one-on-ones well. He kept it simple with the puck. He did a good job."

Kaprizov opened the scoring with a power-play goal 1:51 into the second period, tucking a rebound past Vejmelka to make it 1-0 Wild.

The game remained 1-0 until 1:21 into the third, when Keller responded with a power-play goal to even the score. Carcone then scored seven seconds later to give Arizona its first lead of the game, marking the third-fastest two-goal span in Coyotes team history.

Carcone now has three goals, and four points, over his last four games.

Bogosian tied it 32 seconds later, however, lifting the puck past Vejmelka during a scramble in front of the net. Arizona challenged the play for goalie interference, but the goal stood after a review.

Eriksson Ek put Minnesota back in front at 7:16, wristing a shot over Vejmelka’s blocker from the high slot, giving the Wild a 3-2 lead, before Faber and Dewar iced the game with their empty-net goals.

"We could not score on our power play and they scored on our PK," Tourigny said. "Two turnovers in the third cost us the lead on that."

The Coyotes are back in action on Friday, hosting the Detroit Red Wings at Mullett Arena to close out their three-game homestand. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm MST, and the game will be broadcast on Arizona 61 (TV) and 98.7 FM Arizona Sports (Radio).