Vejmelka, Coyotes defeat Ducks in home opener

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Karel Vejmelka made 32 saves for the Arizona Coyotes in their home opener, a 2-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Mullett Arena on Saturday.

Jason Zucker and Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes (3-2-0), who won their home opener for the first time since 2016-17.

"It was a big battle, everyone was excited for the first home game, and everybody enjoyed it," Vejmelka said. "It was a great, great feeling."

Frank Vatrano scored for the Ducks (1-3-0), who lost their second straight game. Lukas Dostal made 26 saves.

"We want to be hard to play against and sometimes the calls don't go your way," Vatrano said. "But we're not going to change the way we play. I think we've just got to do it a little smarter."

Arizona has a winning record after five games for the first time since 2015-16, when it was also 3-2-0.

"So far, so good and, yeah, we've had really good opponents in that stretch, the three New York (area) teams (Rangers, Islanders, Devils), elite teams, so it's been good," Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said.

Zucker made it 1-0 with a power-play goal at 17:41 of the first period with a one-timer from the right point.

Arizona has four power-play goals in its past two games, including three in a 6-2 win against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

"I thought it was a good period of hockey and then we take two penalties late in the first and they generated some energy off that," Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said. "I thought that changed the complexion of the period and that changed the complexion of the game."

Keller made it 2-0 at 14:01 of the second with a wrist shot from the right circle on a delayed penalty call, with Arizona having an extra skater. The Coyotes controlled the puck in the offensive zone for 1:01 before Keller's shot went past a screened Dostal.

"They had a tired crew on the ice and they're pushing to change, and we had a really good possession," Tourigny said. "That opened up play for us, [we] had traffic in front of the net and 'Kells' put one right in the hole."

Vatrano cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 7:47 of the third, driving to the net and scoring off Jakob Silfverberg's cross-ice pass.

"Before the game, we kind of highlighted some things we wanted to do on the power play, generate a lot of chances and we were lucky to get out there with some time left and capitalize," Vatrano said "[But] we could have had a little more traffic in front of [Vejmelka's] eyes, made it a little harder on him."

Coyotes forward Michael Carcone didn't return following a shoulder-to-shoulder hit from Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas at 19:19 of first. Zucker (lower-body injury) didn't play in the third period.

"They're really aggressive on the forecheck and put a lot of pressure on … it's really draining physically and we had a few guys going down," Tourigny said. "I really loved the way that our guys reacted. They really pushed through and found a way to win."

The Ducks have been on the penalty kill 22 times this season and have had 12 power plays.

"Fatigue will set in and then guys are sitting on the bench, the rhythm of the game gets pickled," Cronin said. "Guys don't get on the ice and then the guys that are on the ice get tired. The effort was there, it's been there every game [but] the execution gets sloppy."

NOTES: Tourigny didn't have an update on Carcone or Zucker after the game. … Vatrano has four goals in four games. … Ducks forward Adam Henrique returned after an illness kept him out of a 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday. … Anaheim defenseman Jamie Drysdale (lower body) sat out a second straight game and also will not play against the Boston Bruins on Sunday. … Zucker has 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in 24 games against the Ducks.