'Yotes Notes: Perlini Scores First NHL Goal

GLENDALE --Rookie Brendan Perlini scored his first NHL goal on Saturday night as the Coyotes defeated the Nashville Predators, 4-1, at Gila River Arena.
Perlini beat Predators goalie Pekka Rinne with a wrist shot from the low slot at 12:48 of the second period. His goal, set up nicely by captain Shane Doan, gave Arizona a 3-1 lead.

"I had good opportunities in the first couple games (and) tonight I just had a better one in the slot and luckily I buried it," said Perlini, who was playing his fourth NHL game. "That's just a muscle memory kind of shot, one that you practice a thousand times ... It's nice to chip in and get on the board."
Perlini is the fifth member of the Coyotes to score his first NHL goal this season. The others are Jakob Chychrun, Lawson Crouse, Anthony DeAngelo and Christian Dvorak.
"If you could have drawn up the kind of goal he was going to get, that would probably be it," Head Coach Dave Tippett said. "He scored some down in the American league like that, in the middle of the slot, grabs it and rips it."
Perlini also enjoyed his first victory since being recalled from the AHL on Sunday. Eleven Coyotes notched at least one point.
"A lot of guys stepped up tonight," Perlini said. "That was the main thing. We just played an overall good game."

• Defenseman Connor Murphy suffered an upper-body injury in the first period of Saturday's game and played only five shifts. His status for the team's four-game road trip, which begins Monday in Pittsburgh, is unclear.
• Doan, who entered the game with 399 NHL goals, was awarded a penalty shot at 0:53 of the third period. Rinne thwarted Doan's bid for the milestone goal and dropped Doan to 0 for 6 on penalty shots in his career.
• Defenseman Alex Goligoski scored Arizona's first goal with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle at 12:50 of the first period. The goal was Goligoski's first as a member of the Coyotes in his 27th game. Forward Lawson Crouse notched his first NHL assist on the goal.
• Crouse notched another NHL first when he dropped the gloves with Nashville's P.K. Subban late in the first period after he checked Nashville's Viktor Arvidsson along the boards. It was Crouse's first fight in the League.
"He's a real good player and is going to become a better player, but that was the best game he's played in the NHL," Tippett said.
Crouse played 12:34, took three shots on goal and delivered five hits.
"As each game goes by, you kind of grow and learn as much as you can," Crouse said. "You kind of feel more comfortable in each and every game."

• With an assist on Martin Hanzal's goal in the third period, Radim Vrbata tied Teemu Selanne and Randy Carlyle for the 15th most points in franchise history (306).
• Forward Anthony Duclair was scratched for the second time in four games and defenseman Michael Stone was scratched for the first time this season.