Valimaki, Coyotes rally past Blackhawks to extend point streak to 8

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Juuso Valimaki scored the go-ahead goal at 16:48 of the third period, and the Arizona Coyotes extended their point streak to eight games with a 4-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Mullett Arena on Saturday.

Valimaki, who also had two assists, scored off Clayton Keller's backdoor pass. Matias Maccelli then scored an empty-net goal at 19:21 for the 4-2 final, completing a three-goal rally in the third period for Arizona.
"Some of those plays [Keller's] making right now, it's unbelievable," Valimaki said of his first goal in 39 games since Dec. 21. "All of a sudden, the puck was on my stick tape, and I just tried to slop it in and it went in, and about time I'd say."
Keller also had a goal and two assists, and Ivan Prosvetov made 32 saves for the Coyotes (27-32-11), who won their fourth straight and are 6-0-2 in their past eight. They've won six in a row at Mullett Arena, their longest streak at home since an eight-game run from Oct. 19-Nov. 16, 2013 at Gila River Arena.
"When you win you want to do it again, and then you want to do it again and you just come in and work," Valimaki said. "Obviously, everyone's playing really well. I think we're pretty confident in we're doing right now … and our goalies are playing really well."

Caleb Jones and Jujhar Khaira scored, and Alex Stalock made 17 saves for the Blackhawks (24-39-6), who were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention. Chicago had won two straight.
"I thought we skated really well and played the way we had been lately, but [could have used] a little more puck luck around the net," Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. "Their goalie made some good stops and it's unfortunate we couldn't get that lead."
Jones gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead at 4:14 of the third on the power play. Prosvetov stopped Lukas Reichel as he drove to the net but lost a skate blade and couldn't set up to stop Jones' shot from the top of the slot.
"I've never been in that situation before, I've seen it with other goalies," said Prosvetov, who has won all three of his NHL starts this season. "I should still make a save there, but I was trying to get up five times and I'm like, `What is going on?'"
Keller tied it 2-2 less than two minutes later at 6:00, when his wrist shot from the right circle found a narrow opening between the post and Stalock's glove.
"I think [Stalock] was probably mad that he couldn't get it covered up … unfortunately, I think our [defensemen] were trying to box out a little bit too long at the net and someone should have attacked," Richardson said. "You can't let Keller walk in and score because he can score in a little hole, that's all he had there."

Khaira gave Chicago a 1-0 lead 35 seconds into the game, deflecting Jarred Tinordi's tumbling shot from the blue line over the top of Prosvetov's glove.
"I think we outplayed them for almost the whole game," Tinordi said. "It's unfortunate that the little mistakes we made ended up in the back of our net. We played hard and played the way we wanted to play."
Hayton tied it 1-1 at 17:48 of the second period with his NHL career-high 14th goal. Keller pulled up at the half boards and passed in front to Hayton, who turned to redirect the puck inside the left post.
NOTES: Chicago was 1-for-5 on the power play and is 2-for-31 its past 10 games. … Stalock didn't face a penalty shot after becoming the first NHL goalie to make penalty-shot saves in three consecutive games. … Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser had one hit and was minus-1 in 16:11 in his NHL debut. He was a third-round pick (No. 81) by Chicago in the 2020 NHL Draft. ... Keller has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) during an eight-game point streak. Hayton has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) during a seven-game point streak. Chicago forward Boris Katchouk has five points (one goal, four assists) during a three-game point streak. … Arizona forward Nick Schmaltz had the secondary assist on Valimaki's goal and was plus-4 in 20:46 after missing the previous three games with a lower-body injury. … Valimaki has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past four games. His only other NHL game-winning goal was Oct. 17, 2018, with the Calgary Flames.