'Yotes Notes: Wedgewood Blanks Former Team

GLENDALE --Scott Wedgewood stopped all 27 shots he faced to earn his second NHL shutout and his first with Arizona on Saturday night, as the Coyotes blanked New Jersey, 5-0, at Gila River Arena.
Wedgewood's victory was extra sweet considering it came against the Devils, the team that drafted him in 2010 and then traded him to Arizona on Oct. 28.
"It means a lot," Wedgewood said. "When you get traded you want to put up a strong effort back to where you came from and show them, not that they made the wrong decision, obviously it's a business, but on a personal level you want to get out there and play well."

Wedgewood's best save came at 12:02 of the second perod when he stopped a shot by New Jersey's Stefan Noesen with an eye-popping toe save.

"That's a two-goal swing," Head Coach Rick Tocchet said. "It's 2-1 if they score, they get momentum and they're pushing. Instead, we make that stop and we score later and it's 3-0. Those are just huge swings in a game and that's a 10-bell save."
Wedgewood said he feels fortunate to have made that save.
"That's as far as I can reach," Wedgewood said. " I don't think I can go any further. I was lucky enough that he hit me with it."

• Eleven Coyotes notched at least one point in the win over New Jersey, Arizona's first in regulation on home ice this season. Derek Stepan led the way with one goal and one assist. Christian Fischer and Kevin Connauton both chipped in two assists.
"That was our best execution game," Stepan said. "We've had some games where we played 57 minutes way better… but obviously a 5-0 win in this league, you don't get many in this league and you have to play extremely well to get that."

• Luke Schenn led all players in Saturday's game with six hits. Schenn is tied for the NHL lead with 93 hits.
• Defenseman Jakob Chychrun might play his first game of the season on Sunday when Arizona takes on the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
Chychrun, who underwent off-season knee surgery after injuring himself while training, has been skating with the Coyotes and the Tucson Roadrunners for the past several weeks.
"He's really close," Tocchet said after Saturday's morning skate. "There's a possibilty that he could play, for sure. He's got to be 100 percent. He can't be 95 percent. We're going to make sure 'Chych' is 100 percent."

Chychrun notched seven goals and 13 assists in 68 games last season, his first in the NHL.
"When he comes back, he's just got to play a simple game," Tocchet said. "We're not looking for saviors here. We're just looking for him to be the guy he is."
• Goalie Antti Raanta skated with teammates on Saturday and is nearing a return from an upper-body injury he suffered on Nov. 22.
"Antti's feeling better," Tocchet said. "He had another good day."

• Meanwhile, the news is not so positive for defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson, who left Tuesday's game at Edmonton because of an upper-body injury and hasn't played since. He's missed 12 of 29 games this season and likely won't return to the lineup any time soon.
"That's a big loss for us," Tocchet said. "That's 25 minutes out of your lineup."
• Arizona Diamondbacks Manager Torey Lovullo dropped the ceremonial first puck before Saturday's game at Gila River Arena.
Lovullo recently was named the National League's Manager of the Year after guiding the D-Backs back to the MLB playoffs in his first season as skipper.