Arizona Coyotes shutout struggling New York Rangers 5-0

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Sarah Hall/SCC

Puck drop between the Rangers and Coyotes at the start of the second period.

Sarah Hall, Reporter

Today was the first time the Coyotes had swept the Rangers in a series since the 2000-2001 season when they were still downtown at America West Arena (now Talking Stick Resort Arena).

In the past three games, the New York Rangers had struggling to support their goaltender with defense and goal scoring, and this afternoon was no different.

The Coyotes took a hold of the game early, only allowing the Rangers to take five shots in the first period. The Coyotes had a staggering 17 shots in the first period against Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

The Coyotes started to find their groove at 7:19 of the first period, the Coyotes got on the board first with a  power play goal from Conor Garland, with assists from Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Alex Galchenyuk, 1-0 Coyotes.

Two minutes later the Coyotes converted on another chance, forward Mario Kempe found the back of the net with assists from Josh Archibald and Lawson Crouse, 2-0 Coyotes.

Conor Garland had Nick Cousins shot go off his hip and the Coyotes scored on with an assist to Alex Galchenyuk at 6:34 of the second period, 3-0 Coyotes.

Shortly after the goal, Ranger forward Pavel Buchnevich got tangled up with Coyotes forward Mario Kempe which lead to a fight between Coyotes forward Josh Archibald and Rangers defender Neal Pionk.

Clayton Keller at 15:13 scored the fourth goal of the night for the Coyotes with assists to Derek Stepan and Chychrun, 4-0 Coyotes.

Just over a minute later Galchenyuk scored making it 5-0 with assists from Jordan Oesterle and Alex Goligoski at 16:38, 5-0 Coyotes.

With the goal from Galchenyuk, Henrik Lundqvist was pulled and Alex Georgiev, the Rangers 22-year-old backup goaltender, took over. The Coyotes managed 16 shots against in the second period

The Third period evened out, the Coyotes keeping their pressure against the Rangers until the end. Darcy Kuemper earned his first shutout since March of 2018 and his first of this season.

Head Coach Rick Tocchet also walked with his 100th career win as a head coach. “It took a long time,” said Tocchet when asked about getting the win.