'Yotes Notes: Tocchet Credits Goaltending, 'Buy In' as Keys to Win Streak

GLENDALE --The Coyotes pushed their winning streak to a season-high four games on Saturday afternoon with a 1-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Gila River Arena.
Christian Dvorak scored the lone goal, and Antti Raanta made 40 saves to earn his first shutout of the season.
The triumph capped Arizona's finest week of the campaign as the Coyotes won all four games they played and held opponents - Chicago, San Jose, Montreal and Edmonton - to just four goals. Head Coach Rick Tocchet said the common threads in the four wins were strong goaltending and the team's willingness to "buy in" to his system.

"I've said all along, as much as I want to push the pace, you have to be a good defensive team and (have) an aggressive style of play down low," Tocchet said. "We're doing that. We're doubling up. We're jumping on pucks. There's no delaying and guys know where they're supposed to go. I've got to give them a lot of credit. The players, they deserved this win tonight for sure."

• Raanta has stopped 123 of 126 shots in his past five starts and is 4-0-1 in those games.
He was perfect vs. the Oilers, thanks to a little help from his friends.
"It's always special," Raanta said of posting a shutout, which he's accomplished nine times as an NHL goalie. "When the team is playing like that, when you only need to make the first save and the guys are making sure that there are no rebounds, it makes your life a little easier. You never get the shutouts by yourself."

• The Oilers briefly tied the score 1-1 when Patrick Maroon was credited with a goal at 11:08 of the third period. The Coyotes challenged the goal claiming Maroon interfered with Raanta before the puck crossed the goal line. After video review, Maroon's goal was disallowed.
Raanta said he was pretty confident the goal would not count.
"I felt that I couldn't move my right arm," Raanta said. "He kind of took my stick and my blocker arm away. It was a high shot, so you just want to go to the corner with your blocker and I couldn't do it. Of course, you never know because they could say that (Jakob Chychrun) was pushing him. I was 75 percent sure that we were going to win the (video review) battle."

• Dvorak scored the game's only goal at 3:26 of the first period on Arizona's first of 32 shots. Oliver Ekman-Larsson launched the shot from the left point and it struck Dvorak, who was stationed at the top of the crease, in the mid-section and trickled past Oilers goalie Cam Talbot.
The goal was Dvorak's 10th of the season and it earned him a spot in an exclusive club. Only four players in Coyotes history have tallied 10 goals or more in their first two seasons with the team. Peter Mueller, Tobias Rieder and Brendan Perlini are the others.
"I didn't even know that," Dvorak said. "I don't really think about personal achievements. I think I've been better as the season has gone on here. I'm trying to produce a little more offensively and help the team win."

• Tocchet praised the Coyotes for their defense and singled out the fourth line centered by Brad Richardson for the way it played vs. Oilers star Connor McDavid, who had just two shots on goal.
"They went head-to-head with McDavid's line and you've got to give them credit because that's a tough task to shut that guy down," Tocchet said. "He's a world-class talent and they did a nice job."
Jordan Martinook and Nick Cousins were the wingers on Richardson's line.

• Richard Panik returned to the lineup after missing the past two games as a healthy scratch. Panik played 14:34 and took a team-high four shots and delivered a team-high three hits.
• The Coyotes, who are 8-5-5 since 2018 started, don't play again until Thursday vs. Calgar at home.