The Arizona Coyotes began a three-game homestand at Mullet Arena Friday night with a win over the San Jose Sharks.
Seizing the opportunity, the Coyotes ended a four-game losing streak by taking advantage of a struggling Sharks squad, who rank last in the league in goals-for and goals-against per game.
The Coyotes have proven to be more effective at home this season, having now won five out of their last six home games at Mullet Arena.
Some clutch goaltending from Coyotes netminder Connor Ingram resulted in a shutout victory.
Ingram had 21 saves for the night.
He’s looking to make a mark this campaign as Arizona’s newest starting goalie, and so far his numbers have been fantastic. Prior to Friday’s game he had posted an 11-6-0 record this season and has been generating some real buzz in the desert.
Coyotes Forward Matias Maccelli delivered the first and only strike of the night with a goal at the 5:15 mark of the 2nd period.
Maccelli entered tonight’s game on a four-game point streak.
The Sharks seemingly fired back with a goal from Forward William Ekland in the 3rd period but were thwarted by a successful Coyotes challenge. A goaltender interference call reversed the goal.
Coyotes fans had another close call late in the 3rd, when Sharks Center Mikael Granlund tied it up around the 3-minute mark but was offsides, the Coyotes successfully challenged the goal, their second successful challenge of the night, securing the home victory.
The Coyotes notably did not commit a single penalty the entire night.
Now back on track, Arizona looks to continue the crawl up what is a closely contended Central Division. As of right now, they could potentially be a playoff wild card team.
Coyotes head coach André Tourigny spoke to Coyotes media pre-game, emphasizing the need for a home win after the recent losing skid.
“For us, it’s good timing because it’s not about San Jose. We need to clean up our own game and make sure we play our ‘A’ game.”
Now with a record of 14-13-2, the Coyotes play again Saturday night against the Buffalo Sabres, this marks the first double-header of the season.
Phoenix ends their homestead with a Tuesday night game against the Ottawa Senators.
