Recap: Kuemper, Grabner Key 'Ugly' Win vs. Preds

GLENDALE -- Darcy Kuemper made a career-high 45 saves to lead the Coyotes to a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night at Gila River Arena.
Michael Grabner and Jason Demers scored goals for Arizona, which led 2-0 after two periods and then held on as Nashville, the NHL's first-place team in terms of points, mounted a rally in the final 20 minutes. The Preds out-shot the Coyotes, 13-5, in the third period.

"We kind of hung on," Coyotes Head Coach Rick Tocchet said. "You've got to give some guys some credit. I still think it's a lesson to learn that you can't back off. You can't win in this league consistently if you're backing off, and I thought the third, we're kind of backing up in the neutral zone and I'm not a fan of that. So we've got to make sure that we meet pressure with pressure. But overall, hey, listen, that team's built to win a Stanley Cup and we beat them 2-1. It was a little ugly."
Nashville's Nick Bonino spoiled Kuemper's bid for a shutout by scoring a goal off the right post with 7:51 left in the third period. Other than that, it was a night to remember for Kuemper, whom Tocchet yanked from his previous outing vs. Detroit on Tuesday after he allowed five goals on just 17 shots.
"I was ready to go from the start," said Kuemper, who has been filling in for injured starter Antti Raanta for the past two weeks. "I wasn't thinking about the last game ... Sometimes it's nice seeing a lot (of shots). It's easy to just get in a rhythm. They had a lot of shots early and things were going well. I felt good. The guys were doing a great job in front of me."

• Grabner scored his goal at 7:16 of the first period during the second of Arizona's five penalty kills. Grabner gained control of the puck deep in Arizona's zone, skated it through the neutral zone and then wristed what appeared to be a harmless shot at Predators goalie Pekka Rinne from just inside Nashville's blue line. Rinne simply failed to track it properly and the puck slid between his pads.
The goal was Arizona's NHL-leading 10th short-handed goal of the season and Grabner's NHL-leading fourth. He is just the 17th player in NHL history to score at least four short-handed goals through his team's first 18 games.

"He's a veteran, he's very smart," Tocchet said. "There are pressure points on a power play and as a penalty killer he knows where to go when the pressure is being played, and that's just his experience over the years, that's why he's been such a good penalty killer. He knows when the PK is applying pressure where to go, where is the most likely place the puck will probably go."
Grabner liked how the Coyotes closed out the win.

"We knew they were going to make a push (in the third period)," Grabner said. "I think we've learned how to weather that a bit, play quality defense, tighten up and get the pucks out and make them go back for pucks."

• Demers scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal when he beat Rinne with a shot from the right circle at 4:09 of the second period during a line change by the Predators. The goal was the first for Demers this season, and his first since March 5 of last season, a stretch of 25 games.

Demers suffered what appeared to be a serious lower-body injury when he fell awkwardly into Arizona's net with 37 seconds left in the game. Teammates helped Demers skate off the ice. A team spokesman said Demers would be evaluated further on Friday.
• By killing all five of Nashville's power plays, Arizona upped its penalty-killing success rate to 91.4 percent, which is tops in the NHL.
"We definitely want to limit the penalties we take, but like always, the guys were working so hard, giving them a lot of pressure and not letting them set up and make the plays they want," Kuemper said. "I think that's why we've had the success we've had."

• Defenseman Jakob Chychrun, who made his season debut on Tuesday at Detroit, did not play because of an upper-body injury he suffered in that game. Defenseman Alex Goligoski also did not play vs. Nashville because of a lower-body injury that has sidelined him the past four games.

• Lawson Crouse skated 11:51, took one shot on goal and delivered two hits in his 100th NHL game.
"It's a big honor," Crouse said before the game. "There's only a select few that get the opportunity to play in this League so I try not to take it for granted and make the most of it as I can. Obviously I want to play a lot more. One hundred games is a good stepping-stone."
• Stats that jump off the Event Summary: Niklas Hjalmarsson played a team-high 24:18 and blocked four shots, and Richard Panik took a team-high four shots on goal.