Raanta, Coyotes hang on for win against Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Antti Raanta made 40 saves for the Arizona Coyotes in their first road win of the season, 4-3 against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Thursday.

Conor Garland had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes (4-5-1), who were outscored 13-7 in three previous losses on the road.
"We played a really good game, 55 minutes we played really well," Raanta said. "We blocked shots and did everything right, and then last five minutes wasn't that great anymore.
"But I felt good. I've been trying to get that game-like feeling out there in practice. It's always hard to come in from a little break, but I've been doing a good job in practice, and it helps to go into a game."
It was Raanta's second start of the season and first since Jan. 16 because of an undisclosed injury.
Mike Hoffman scored two goals, and Jordan Binnington made 26 saves for St. Louis (7-3-1), which had its four-game winning streak end.
Arizona led 3-0 before Hoffman scored with Binnington pulled for an extra attacker at 16:45 of the third period to make it 3-1.
It was another slow start for the Blues, who were outshot 11-2 to begin the game and fell behind 2-0 in the first period. They were outshot 11-1 by the Coyotes to begin the game here Tuesday and trailed 1-0 but came back for a 4-3 win.
"I don't have the answer for you," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "You'll have to ask the players that. They're the ones that play.
"It does have to come from each individual, and I believe there's a bunch of individuals in there that do compete and work and are ready to play, but we have too many that aren't. If that's the case, you're going to have a tough time winning. That's the bottom line."
The NHL announced during the game that the Blues and Coyotes will play two games here Saturday and Monday that initially were scheduled for March 29 and 31. The Coyotes were supposed to play at the Minnesota Wild on Saturday and Sunday, and the Blues were scheduled to host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday and Sunday, but those games were postponed because of NHL COVID-19 protocol.
Tyler Pitlick gave Arizona a 1-0 lead at 9:32 of the first period when he redirected Drake Caggiula's pass from the left corner.

Nick Schmaltz made it 2-0 at 17:48 by poking in the rebound of Garland's shot. Garland got past Blues defenseman Colton Parayko on the left side with a power move.
Garland made it 3-0 at 5:18 of the second period when he scored on the rebound after Binnington made a sprawling save on a Jason Demers slap shot.
"It was nice to cash in on a few of those tonight," Garland said. "I just think we stuck with it. We had a bunch of chances as well. ... We had some chances as well late, but they're a great team. We knew they were going to make a push. Obviously, you hate to see it get that close."
After Hoffman got the Blues within two with his first goal of the night, Christian Dvorak scored into an empty net at 17:46 of the third to make it 4-1.
Ryan O'Reilly scored with an extra attacker with 1:11 remaining to make it 4-2, and Hoffman scored his second of the game with 25 seconds left for the 4-3 final.

"Probably just a learning lesson," Hoffman said. "Not too many times you're going to come back from three goals against any team in this league. You've got to respect your opponent every single night; teams are too good if you're not coming ready to play from the drop of the puck to the end. Teams are going to bury you like they did to us tonight."
NOTES: Hoffman had a game-high nine shots on goal and played a season-high 19:13. ... St. Louis had 79 shot attempts to Arizona's 47. The Coyotes had 24 blocked shots.