Cooley, Crouse score 28 seconds apart, Coyotes hold off Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS -- Logan Cooley and Lawson Crouse scored 28 seconds apart in the third period, and Connor Ingram made 39 saves for the Arizona Coyotes in a 3-2 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

Cooley put Arizona ahead 2-1 at 9:39 with a power-play goal from the left circle before Crouse scored on a one-timer to make it 3-1 at 10:07.

“It’s a play I’ve been working on in practice, being more of shooter on that side and getting pucks to the net,” Cooley said of his goal. “I kind of felt like I was in the right position to get a quality shot. It was a heck of a screen by [Alex] Kerfoot too.”

Barrett Hayton scored for the Coyotes (8-6-2), who had lost two of three (1-1-1). Hayton did not return after leaving with an upper-body injury at 6:20 of the second period following his goal.

Damon Severson scored twice, and Elvis Merzlikins made 29 saves for the Blue Jackets (4-9-4), who have lost seven straight (0-5-2).

“We’re close,” Severson said. “We shouldn’t have to come back like that, pull the goalie. It’s a 1-1 game in the third period. We have to keep it out of our net first and try to push for the next one. We were fortunate we got one. We were pressuring.

“I really thought we were going to get the next one but unfortunately, we couldn’t get the [tying goal] but overall, we’re not quite getting it done right now. It needs to get done and the sooner the better.”

Severson gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 1:45 of the second period on a slap shot from the top of the right circle.

“The Blue Jackets started strong,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “They attacked us with their rush like we knew, came back in the game. That was a good, resilient game for us. Obviously, it was not a Picasso the way we played. At the end of the day, we have to be happy with the win.”

Hayton tied it 1-1 at 6:20, scoring on a loose puck. He was at the crease when a shot from the left point by Michael Kesselring went off the skate of Blue Jackets defenseman Jake Bean.

“I feel for our players right now, they're working hard,” Columbus coach Pascal Vincent said. “They do so many good things that we forget after because of those little mistakes, and the first thing you know the puck is in the back of our net.”

After the Coyotes went ahead 3-1, Severson made it 3-2 at 18:03 with his second goal of the game after Merzlikins was pulled for the extra attacker.

“When they got that second one there, they had a good push,” Cooley said. “We stayed with it. We stayed with our game plan, shut it down. A lot of our ‘D’ played a heck of a game too, put a lot of pressure on their forwards towards the end and got the win.”

NOTES: Tourigny said Hayton and forward Matias Maccelli, who left at 10:36 of the second period after taking a puck to the face, will be evaluated Friday. ... It was Arizona’s seventh straight game scoring on the power play. The goal ended the Blue Jackets’ streak of 23 successful penalty kills in their past 10 games. ... Ingram (6-1-0) made 17 saves in the third period to match his win total of last season (6-13-8 in 27 games). He became the third Coyotes goaltender in the past 10 years with a five-game win streak, joining Darcy Kuemper (seven in 2018-19) and Antti Raanta (six, 2017-18). … Kesselring played his first game of the season in place of defenseman Juuso Valimaki (upper body) after being recalled from Tucson of the American Hockey League on Nov. 8. He had an assist in 11:32 of ice time. … Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner played his 674th game for Columbus, tying Riley Nash for the franchise record.