Recap: Coyotes Begin Trip with Loss at Bruins

BOSTON -- The Coyotes began a four-game road trip with a 4-3 loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Tuesday night.
A five-minute lapse in the second period sealed Arizona's fate. That's when it allowed the Bruins to score four consecutive goals to turn its two-goal lead into a two-goal deficit.

Nick Schmaltz, Nick Cousins and Michael Bunting, playing his first NHL game, scored goals for the Coyotes, who dropped to 0-13-1 vs. Boston since last beating the Bruins on Oct. 9, 2010.
"We played a good hockey game for 50 (minutes)," Coyotes Head Coach Rick Tocchet said. "... (Ahead) 2-0 and we backed off again. It's very frustrating. We cannot back off. That's something that we've got to keep pressing here. It's a learning process."

The Bruins outshot the Coyotes, 12-7, in the first period, but Arizona led 2-0 when it was over.
Schmaltz gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead when he scored a power-play goal off the left post and past Tuukka Rask at 12:22. The goal was Schmaltz's fourth in seven games since coming to Arizona in a trade with Chicago on Nov. 25. All four goals have been power-play goals.
Cousins upped Arizona's lead to 2-0 just 40 seconds later when he beat Rask with a wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle.
But the game turned as it neared the middle of the second frame. Danton Heinen started Boston's furious comeback when he scored a backdoor goal on Darcy Kuemper at 8:40. David Pastrnak tallied nearly the same goal just 33 seconds later, and Boston's blitz was on. Brad Marchand capped it by scoring a pair of goals within a span of 1:59.
"If you give them odd-man rushes all night, they've got some high-end skill and they're going to make you pay," Schmaltz said.
• Kuemper returned to the net after nearly a three-week absence because of a lower-body injury and stopped 22 of 26 shots.
"I was pretty happy with a lot of parts of my game today," Kuemper said. "A few things, just some reads and timing, I've got to watch the video and get a little bit better at, but overall I felt pretty good in there."
Kuemper made his best save when he blocked a short-handed breakaway shot by Marchand in the first period.

• Bunting, whom Arizona recalled from the American Hockey League last Friday, scored Arizona's third goal when he bunted, if you will, a loose puck under Rask from in close with five minutes left in the second period.
Bunting skated 9:08, took three shots on goal and delivered three hits in his first game.

"I thought it went pretty well," Bunting said. "At the start, I had my jitters. Right when the national anthem hit, it was like 'Alright, I'm in an NHL game.' After that I just played simple at the start of the game and I was lucky enough to put one by the goalie ... To get that under my belt in the first game is pretty special. I'm going to remember that for the rest of my life."

• Tocchet was not pleased with how his top line defended Boston's. Schmaltz and wingers Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse all were minus-3 in the game.
"They're young kids but they have to understand that if you're going against a quality line like that you've got to stop on a puck, you've got to be above people, you might have to defend. It's not always (about) trying to score," Tocchet said. "If the other coach is going to put their best line against you, you'd better have some pride."
• Niklas Hjalmarsson skated 20:39 and blocked three shots in his 700th NHL game. He's just the 15th player from the 2005 NHL Draft class to reach that milestone.
"I'm proud of that," Hjalmarsson said. "It's been a fun ride so far, with a lot of ups and downs, as it is in this League. To be able to play my 700th game today, I'm happy about that and that I've been sticking around for that long."
• Alex Galchenyuk missed the game because of a lower-body injury and is considered day to day. Kevin Connauton was a healthy scratch.