Recap: Coyotes Top Oilers in Shootout

EDMONTON --Vinnie Hinostroza scored the decisive shootout goal for the Coyotes in a 3-2 defeat of Edmonton on Tuesday night at Rogers Place.

Hinostroza ended the game by beating Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen with a backhanded shot of the left post in the fourth round, after both teams scored a shootout goal in the second round.

"We weren't happy about our effort the last game (a 5-2 loss at Calgary on Monday), so we knew this game was going to be a playoff game for us," Hinostroza said. "I thought we played a great game today for 60 minutes. I think we controlled most of the game."

Alex Galchenyuk also scored a shootout goal, and Darcy Kuemper stopped three of four shootout shots for Arizona, which climbed to within one point of Minnesota, the team currently holding the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference standings with 60 points.

The Coyotes never trailed, but they allowed Edmonton to twice tie the score before heading to overtime and eventually the shootout. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins notched a goal from in close in dramatic fashion with just 11 seconds left in the third period to knot the score 2-2.
"They definitely pushed in the third and tied it up late, but I think the urgency of the game allowed us to easily reset and to have a good overtime and a big shootout," said Kuemper, who stopped 28 of 30 shots through three periods, and seven more in overtime.
With the victory, Kuemper, who broke into the League in 2012-13, set a new career-high for wins in one NHL season with 15.

• Tied 0-0 after the first 20 minutes, the Coyotes out-shot the Oilers, 16-7, in the second period to seize control of the game.
"We worked hard tonight," Head Coach Rick Tocchet said. "We could have been up about 5-0 after the second, but give Edmonton credit, they stuck with it."
Josh Archibald gave Arizona a 1-0 lead when he swept a rebound past Koskinen at 7:12 of the second.
That lead lasted until Adam Larsson one-timed a shot from the high slot through traffic at 3:27 of the third period, ending Kuemper's shutout streak at 110:24.

Hinostroza put Arizona back in front when he backhanded a shot past Koskinen at 10:37 of the third period.
• Tied 1-1, the Coyotes, who lead the NHL in penalty killing, survived a five-on-three disadvantage that lasted 1:15 in the third period.
"A huge kill," Kuemper said. "It kind of gave us momentum. They were having a lot of pressure there, so to kill that kind of allowed us to kind of get our feet back under us and get back to our game ... Guys were working hard. And when the points are so important it's easy to dig deep and find energy."

• Kuemper is 4-1-0 with a shutout in his past five starts. He stopped 131 of 137 shots in the four wins. That's a .956 save percentage.
• Edmonton played minus captain Connor McDavid, who leads the team and ranks third in the NHL with 83 points, because of illness. Arizona did not know McDavid wouldn't play until warm-ups.
"It's a dangerous thing because you breathe and everybody relaxes," Tocchet said. "I said 'These guys are going to play even harder (without McDavid),' so you have to take that approach."
• Richard Panik missed a third consecutive game because of illness.
• Stats that jump off the Event Summary: Mario Kempe took a team-high six shots on goal, Alex Goligoski delivered four hits and Brad Richardson won nine of 14 face-offs.