Coyotes inch closer in playoff race with shootout win against Oilers

EDMONTON --The Arizona Coyotes moved within one point of the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with a 3-2 shootout win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Tuesday.

Vinnie Hinostroza scored in the third period and had the shootout clincher for Arizona (27-28-5), which trails the Minnesota Wild by one point. Josh Archibald also scored, and Darcy Kuemper made 35 saves.
"I thought we played a great game, and for 60 minutes, I think we controlled most of the game," Hinostroza said. "I think everyone was ready to go.
"We weren't happy about our effort the last game (5-2 loss at the Calgary Flames on Monday), so we knew this game was going to be a playoff game for us."
WATCH: [All Coyotes vs. Oilers highlights]
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tied the game 2-2 with 11 seconds left in the third period, and Mikko Koskinen made 33 saves for Edmonton (24-29-5), which has lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 11 of its past 12 (1-8-3). The Oilers were without center Connor McDavid because of an illness.
"We are going to keep working and battling to find our way back into the playoffs," Nugent-Hopkins said. "We are going to keep pushing. We obviously know we need to get rolling and string some wins together.
"The last four games, I actually feel we have worked hard and played well; we just haven't been able to come out with the two points in any of them. We need to keep pushing. There isn't going to be any shortage of work effort for the rest of the year from us."

Archibald scored his third goal in his past five games 7:12 into the second period to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead.
"We worked hard tonight," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. "We could have been up about 5-0 after the second, but give Edmonton credit, they stuck with it."
Adam Larsson scored on point shot through a screen in front at 3:27 of the third period to tie it 1-1.
"This is six of the last seven games we've played awfully well," Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We had a little bit of a soft second period, we lost a lot of face-offs and ended up defending a lot. But this is now six of seven games where we've worked really hard and competed at a high level."
The Oilers had a two-man advantage for 1:15 starting at 6:57, but were unable to capitalize.
Hinostroza scored at 10:37 when he took a pass from Niklas Hjalmarsson and scored on a backhand to give the Coyotes a 2-1 lead.
"All our [penalty] killers did a great job, whether it was 5-on-4 or 5-on-3," Hinostroza said. "Killing that 5-on-3 was huge. Whenever you can kill one of those, you give yourself a chance to win the game."
Nugent-Hopkins tied it at 19:49 on a scramble in front after he took a pass from Leon Draisaitl, who had two assists.

Edmonton outshot Arizona 7-2 in overtime.
"I thought we played a pretty solid game other than the first 10 minutes of the second period when we let them come on a little too much," Draisaitl said. "That third period was as good as you can play it, probably. We probably could have won the game, but credit to them too; they played hard. It was a good point for us. We just have to keep building."

They said it

"They definitely pushed late and tied the game, but I think the urgency of the game allowed us to reset and to have a good overtime and big shootout." -- Coyotes goalie Darcy Kuemper
"We had a lot of chances in OT and could have ended it. It was nice to get a point and it is something to build off of. We just have to find anything to get some positive momentum and hopefully battling back to get a point is that for us and we can keep fighting here." -- Oilers forward Sam Gagner

Need to know

Kuemper is 4-1-0 with a shutout in his past five starts. … The Coyotes are 3-1 in shootouts this season. … Draisaitl has a four-game point streak (three goals, two assists). He has 15 points (11 goals, four assists) in his past 11 games. …. McDavid has missed two games this season, both because of an illness. He did not play in a 4-1 loss at the Dallas Stars on Dec. 3.

What's next

Coyotes: At the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-A, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Host the New York Islanders on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV)