'Yotes Notes: Tocchet Pleased by Team Effort vs. Kings

GLENDALE --Coyotes Head Coach Rick Tocchet liked the manner in which his team played, and won, Friday's game vs. the Los Angeles Kings at Gila River Arena.
"Everybody contributed tonight," Tocchet said after Arizona's 3-2 overtime victory, its first vs. a Western Conference team this season. "That's what you're looking for, not so much guys that are outstanding, but just (having) good games. We didn't have many passengers tonight and I think that was the key."

The Coyotes led 1-0 and 2-1, but the Kings rallied to knot the score twice. Tied 2-2, Arizona killed LA's lone power play of the night late in the third period to send the game to overtime.
Christian Fischer capped perhaps his best game of the season by scoring the game-winning goal in the extra session. Fischer crashed the net during an odd-man rush and tapped in the rebound of a shot by Christian Dvorak past Kings backup goalie Darcy Kuemper at 2:43 of overtime.
"They tied it up in the third," Fischer said. "After that goal, I thought we tightened up really good as a group, kind of gave a little push back. We weren't on our heels. That's good to see from our group ... The way we played is the way we want to play moving forward. We have everyone contributing - young guys, veterans, goalies. It's awesome to see. We're moving in the right direction and we're having fun."

Fisher's goal was the sixth of his rookie season and his first in overtime.
"(Overtime) is all about puck possession," Fischer said. "(Tocchet) emphasizes that if you have nothing, just bring it back and get some speed. And that's exactly what we did. We caught them on a change and had a 3-on-2 rush there. I was the middleman and just drove the net and made sure I stopped in front to put home anything if (Dvorak) didn't score, and that's exactly what happened."

• Scott Wedgewood made 23 saves, including 10 in the third period, in his first start at home and in his first appearance vs. the Kings.
"That's my first time ever playing them," Wedgewood said. "They crash hard and that's where you're going to score goals. You saw that second one was just a bunch of bodies, I think about 10 were in underneath the hash marks there. They play that the right way and I have to battle through that, and the guys did a good job of boxing out and creating space ... Everybody was kind of sacrificing their body. We just stuck to what we wanted to do."
Marek Langhamer served as Wedgewood's backup vs. the Kings in place of Antti Raanta, who is sidelined because of an upper-body injury he suffered vs. San Jose on Wednesday.
Tocchet said Wedgewood's composure was key during the tight game.
"I like that he doesn't flop around," Tocchet said. "He's very still in the net, and he's not out of the net on shots. He was very calm. He gave us what we needed. He was excellent for us."

• Wedegwood was called for holding Kings forward Nick Shore on the right side of the net at 15:22 of the third period.
It was a first for Wedgewood, who offered the following explanation:
"The glove is on so tight and his stick was caught between the cup of my glove and my wrist, and it was just a tug-of-war match," Wedgewood said. "To me, if I'm going to hold somebody, I'm going to hold him before the goal line. After that, I'm not chasing him to the corner ... It was just unfortunate that the ref was on my opposite side and he saw what he thought he saw. I play the game as fair as possible. Fortunately the team bailed me out and we rallied together. That was a big kill as a team and we kind of got our momentum back."
• Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brendan Perlini scored goals for the Coyotes in regulation.
Ekman-Larsson's goal was another power-play goal, his third of the season and the 43rd of his NHL career. Nearly half of his NHL goals (43 of 92) have been scored with a man advantage.
Perlini's goal, which came when he redirected a shot by Alex Goligoski, extended his goal-scoring streak to three games.
"That was a nice shot (by Goligoski) from the point, and I was just coming in the middle, trying to get a stick on it, and luckily I did and got it in off the post," Perlini said.

• Derek Stepan assisted on Ekman-Larsson's goal to extend his point streak to five games.
• Tocchet did not announce a starting goalie for Saturday's home game vs. Vegas, but Wedgewood said he'd welcome the challenge of back-to-back starts.
"It's not even a full day until we play again, but you try and manage it the best you can," Wedgewood said. "If they do look to me, I'll be ready."