'Yotes Notes: Keller Reaches 50 Points in Rookie Season

GLENDALE --Clayton Keller scored his 19th goal of the season on Tuesday night at Gila River Arena to become just the third rookie in Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes history to reach 50 points in his first season.
Keller, 19, scored his goal at 5:08 of the first period and it gave Arizona a 1-0 lead over the Los Angeles Kings. The Coyotes won the game, 4-3, after a shootout.

Peter Mueller owns the Coyotes record for points in a season with 54 in 2007-08. Max Domi tallied 52 points in 2015-16. With 13 games to play, Keller likely will pass both of them.
"You just go out there and try to produce every night," Keller said. "I try to do everything I can to help the team win."
Keller's 50 points rank first on the Coyotes and fourth among NHL freshmen.

• Adin Hill learned he'd start Tuesday's game via text from Goaltending Coach Corey Schwab about five minutes before he arrived at Gila River Arena. Darcy Kuemper, who was supposed to have started the game, was ill and the team decided Hill was the better option in net.
Hill made 34 saves, plus four more in the shootout, to earn his first NHL victory.
"It's awesome," Hill said. "It was exhilarating. It's something you dream of every day growing up as a child. To come here and to do it was great. Now I want more."
Hill has spent the majority of the season playing for Tucson in the American Hockey League. He's been with the Coyotes for a week now because Antti Raanta is nursing a lower-body injury and has missed five games.

"Some goalies are gamers and you see them raise to another level," Assistant Coach John MacLean said. "He's a big kid and I liked his cockiness with how he played the game. I thought he was very confident and especially in the shootout. I think that's something he can build on. He's still got some work to do but it's nice that he got his first win."
Hill (21 years, 306 days) is the second youngest goaltender in franchise history to earn a win for the team. Daniel Berthiaume (20 years, 282 days) won a game for Winnipeg in 1986-87.
• MacLean served as head coach for the Coyotes in place of Rick Tocchet, who is away from the team on a leave of absence because of an illness in his family.
"I thought the guys played really hard tonight," MacLean said. "They were focused in, they wanted to win. We talked about it this morning. We know what 'Toc' is going through. I thought they played a tremendous game."

• Keller and Alex Goligoski scored Arizona's shootout goals.
MacLean said Schwab lobbied for Goligoski, who hadn't taken a shootout shot all season, to take one in the fifth round.
"He goes, 'Goose, he just had a baby, so maybe he can (score),'" MacLean said. "I'm like, 'OK, we'll go with him then' ... There's not a great science to it, but it was effective tonight."
Goligoski, who played a team-high 26:29, beat Kings goalie Jack Campbell with a shot between his legs.
"Keller made a great move on his (goal), so I was trying to go down and sell that and hopefully freeze him and make an extra move and try to slide it in and it worked," Goligoski said.
• Kuemper served as Hill's backup, but he did not sit on the bench with the team per usual.
"We were hoping he would feel better, but he didn't," MacLean said. "He was available and he was here to be the backup. There was no sense bringing him out in the cold if he's not feeling 100 percent. But if we needed him, he was ready to go in."
• Nick Cousins scored his 11th goal of the season at 15:43 of the first period. The tally raised his point total to 17, a career-high for points in a season. Cousins also chipped in an assist.
• Christian Dvorak matched his career-high for points in a season (34) by scoring his 14th goal at 10:13 of the second period.
• Shane Doan, Tyson Nash, Curtis Joseph, Greg Adams and Cale Hulse were among the participants in an alumni game staged between the Coyotes and Kings at Gila River Arena before Tuesday's game. The Coyotes won, 9-6. Luc Robitaille was among those who played for the Kings.