Galchenyuk, Coyotes hold off Stars, end five-game skid

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Coyotes ended a five-game losing streak when Alex Galchenyuk had two goals and an assist in a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars at Gila River Arena on Saturday.

Darcy Kuemper made 33 saves, and Alex Goligoski had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes (24-26-5), who were 0-4-1 in their previous five. They had lost nine straight against the Stars (0-8-1) since March 24, 2016.
"Obviously it always feels good winning, and we know a lot of guys over there," said Goligoski, a former Stars defenseman. "It's fun beating them. I enjoyed that a lot."
WATCH: [All Stars vs. Coyotes highlights]
Brett Ritchie and Alexander Radulov scored 27 seconds apart late in the third period, and Anton Khudobin made 36 saves for the Stars (28-22-5), who fell behind 3-0. Dallas lost its second straight after winning five in a row and had a six-game point streak (5-0-1) end.
"We're down 3-0, we get that one (by Ritchie) and we still believed [and] said, 'Let's go,'" Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. "We had another couple of looks at it, but too little, too late was kind of the story tonight."

Goligoski and Galchenyuk scored on the power play for the Coyotes, who were 0-for-16 with the man-advantage in their previous four games. Nick Cousins had two assists.
"Every game we've lost the last three or four, we've lost the special teams battle," Goligoski said. "Obviously we're aware of it. It's nice to get the power play going."
Goligoski made it 1-0 with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle after a cross-ice pass by Galchenyuk at 8:49 of the first, seven seconds after Stars forward Blake Comeau was called for tripping.
"We had a (power-play) meeting today and [said], 'A couple of passes and shoot,' and whoever did it was going to get on the ice," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. "The first goal set the table for us, it was right off the draw. We were very decisive and that's what we needed."

Seguin felt the Stars controlled the 5-on-5 play most of the game.
"It came down to special teams, honestly, and they won special teams," he said.
With Dallas defenseman Jamie Oleksiak in the penalty box for tripping, Galchenyuk made it 2-0 at 15:31 of the second.
"We spend so much time talking about the power play, and in the video room," Galchenyuk said. "We, as a group, are happy it paid off today."
Galchenyuk made it 3-0 at 3:39 of the third for his second multigoal game of the season. Ritchie scored with 3:39 left to make it 3-1, and Radulov scored with 3:12 remaining for the 3-2 final.
"You have to play 60 minutes, that's the bottom line," Radulov said. "It's not enough to play two periods or 50 minutes, it's a 60-minute game. We have to understand that, embrace it and be better."

Arizona had lost nine of its previous 12 home games (3-7-2).
"We moved the puck really good, simple and quick (on the power play) and that's why we were successful," Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. "We've been talking about it a lot lately, so it was nice to chip in some goals. That's the type of game we've been looking for."

They said it

"We've got to bounce back in the next one (Tuesday at the Florida Panthers), show we're not just streaky, up and down, win a few and lose a few. We've got to be able to bounce back quick." -- Stars captain Tyler Seguin
"We're squeezing a lot of juice out of some guys, and I thought a lot of guys gave good effort. We kind of let our foot off the gas, a couple of guys had blown coverages at the end but we hung on there. It's an important win. We had to have this win." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet on Arizona, which has played most of the season with at least six injured players

Need to know

Dallas defenseman Roman Polak left the game with an upper-body injury after Arizona forward Lawson Crouse was called for boarding at 16:33 of the first. Stars coach Jim Montgomery said Polak is day to day. He did not pass an initial concussion protocol test. … Arizona's losing streak was its longest since it lost seven in a row (0-6-1) from Dec. 3-19, 2017. … The Coyotes scored multiple power-play goals for the third time this season. … Arizona defenseman Jordan Oesterle had an assist and has five points (one goal, four assists) during a four-game point streak. … Kuemper is 7-2-3 in his past 12 starts.

What's next

Stars: At the Florida Panthers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; FS-F, FS-SW, NHL.TV)
Coyotes: At the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, FS-A, NHL.TV)