Ingram Shines, Coyotes Shut Out Golden Knights on Saturday

STATS

The Arizona Coyotes have a tough schedule ahead of them, facing off against the last five Stanley Cup winning-teams beginning with Saturday's matchup against the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights.

Connor Ingram and Clayton Keller made sure they passed their first test with flying colors.

Keller and Lawson Crouse scored, Ingram made 34 saves to earn his second career shutout, and the Coyotes beat the Golden Knights 2-0 at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

Logan Thompson made 16 saves for the Golden Knights, who have lost three of their last four games. Vegas (14-5-2) had the best home record in the league heading into Saturday’s tilt at 8-1-1, but the Coyotes used strong team play throughout the game to snap their three-game skid and hand Vegas its second regulation loss at home.

"It’s a good response," Ingram said. "We’ve had some long meetings the past couple of days just trying to get things back on track, so I think that was a great response from everybody. That’s a good win to learn from and to build on."

The Coyotes (9-9-2) were outshot 20-10 through two periods on Saturday, but Ingram's stellar play kept the game scoreless until Keller's goal midway through the third. He came up with even more critical saves in the final frame, in which Vegas recorded 14 shots on goal, and Crouse's empty-netter at 18:43 essentially iced the game.

Arizona improved to 5-5-2 on the road this season, and now returns home to open a five-game homestand at Mullett Arena, beginning on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Coyotes were playing without two centers (Barrett Hayton and Jack McBain) and three defensemen (Travis Dermott, Juuso Välimäki, and Matt Dumba), and blueliner Vladislav Kolyachonok was injured in the second period of the game, limiting Arizona's defense to just five skaters for half of the contest.

Resilient as ever, the Coyotes stuck to their gameplan and left Sin City with a win.

"We were urgent and focused all night long," head coach André Tourigny said. "It’s a Stanley Cup championship team on the other side. The way we played defenseively, the way we managed the puck, the way we managed our game, that’s what we were begging for for a while. That’s what we’re capable of."

Keller opened the scoring 10:38 into the third period, taking a deflected pass from Logan Cooley and beating Thompson back door. The 25-year-old had not scored since Nov. 14 against the Dallas Stars, but still leads the team with 19 points this season.

Crouse potted an empty-net goal at 18:43 of the final frame, marking his team-leading 10th goal of the season, and all of those have come in November. He is two shy of setting the franchise record, with two games remaining in the month.

The Coyotes' penalty kill continued to shine, going a perfect 5-for-5 on the night. Arizona has not given up a power-play goal in five consecutive games, killing off all 16 chances against it.

Ingram, though, was the story, recording his first shutout of the year against the defending champs. He's 7-3-0 this season and has officially exceeded his win total from last year, which spanned 26 starts.

The Coyotes also blocked 17 shots in front of him on Saturday, with contributions coming from up-and-down the lineup.

"I felt good," Ingram said. "The more you play, the more rhythm you get in to. It’s good to be in there, and it did feel good.

"You’re going to get some bounces, you’re going to get some big blocks from the guys, and that’s what it takes to win these kind of games. We got it done."

Tourigny said Ingram's third-period performance on Saturday is where he really shined.

"He was really good," Tourigny said. "I really think the first two periods, we kept a lot of stuff on the outside, but he made few key saves. At the end of the game he was tested, and that’s where he made his best work, and we’re confident with Ingy."

The Coyotes are back in action on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, opening up a five-game homestand at Mullett Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm MST, and the game will be broadcast on the following networks:

WHERE TO WATCH:
• Antenna: 61.1 Phoenix, 9.2 Tucson
• Phoenix Cable: Cox 95
• Phoenix Satellite: DirecTV Channel 61, Dish Network Channel 61
• Bullhead City / Lake Havasu: Optimum channel 6
• Flagstaff: American Cable channel 4, Optimum Cable channel 6
• Maricopa: Orbitel channel 11
• Pinal County: Mediacom channel 13
• Prescott: Sparklight channel 61
• Sedona: Optimum Cable channel 6
• Show Low / Winslow Sparklight channel 61
• Tucson: Cox channel 85, Xfinity channel 1179, Orbitel channel 208
WHERE TO LISTEN:
• Radio: 98.7 FM Arizona Sports
• Stream: Arizona Coyotes App, NHL Mobile App