The Coyotes and Ducks continue their heated rivalry, playing a tough and physical game on Friday night that ended in a 2-0 Arizona victory.
The Arizona Coyotes beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-0 on Friday night marking their second consecutive victory.
The Coyotes were coming off arguably their most emotional win as they were able to climb all the way back from a four goal deficit to defeat the Colorado Avalanche 5-4.
Two nights later, the Coyotes were in Anaheim looking to build off their impressive performance.
Less than ten minutes into the game, Clayton Keller struck gold on the power play, putting Arizona up 1-0.
Since moving Matias Maccelli to the first wave of the power play alongside Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Alexander Kerfoot and Sean Durzi, the Coyotes man advantage has looked fantastic, specifically their puck movement.
With two clever playmakers in Keller and Maccelli, they are able to maintain possession while being more creative with the puck.
The game’s second and final goal came 10:05 into the second period off a Lawson Crouse one timer. Maccelli gave Crouse a beautiful feed as he scored his 16th goal which is the most amongst all of Arizona’s players.
The main theme of this game was physicality. The Coyotes and Ducks clearly just don’t like each other for whatever reason.
After almost every whistle it seemed that there was a scrum taking place with multiple players going at one another.
The most impressive part of the night was that Arizona played a physical game while also being able to keep their cool and kept a prolonged amount of pressure all night long.
They completely dominated possession time, creating a multitude of high quality scoring chances and attempted 32 shots compared to the Ducks 28 which should have been a wider margin due to Anaheim’s desperate attempt to get back in the game late in the third period.
Connor Ingram was also able to record his fourth shutout of the season, making a total of 28 saves. Both Ingram and Karel Vejmelka have been playing well in net making it easy for coach André Tourigny to keep rotating the two goaltenders equally.
On the road against a physical team, the Coyotes showed once again that they are unfazed and can play in these sort of tough conditions.
The Coyotes can match the physicality of their opponents on any given night because the team possesses physical, tough minded players and they have the skill guys who can help elevate the team offensively.
With this win, Arizona still holds the first wild card spot in the Western Conference with a record of 19-14-2 and 40 points.
The Coyotes end 2023 on a high note as their next game will be on the second day of the new year against the Florida Panthers at Mullett Arena.