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The NHL came to Wichita, and goals came right along with it.
Barrett Hayton recorded a goal and two assists, and both Nick Ritchie and Nick Schmaltz notched two points apiece, but the Arizona Coyotes fell 5-4 to the St. Louis Blues in front of 8,475 fans at INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan. on Saturday.
Goalies Jon Gillies and Ivan Prosvetov split time in net for the Coyotes. Gillies stopped nine of the 12 shots he faced, while Prosvetov saved 11 of 13.
Jake Neighbours had two goals and an assist for the Blues, who were also playing in their first preseason game. Logan Brown, Zachary Bolduc and Tyler Pitlick, who played 38 games with the Coyotes in 2020-21, each had two points apiece.
Special teams were a bright spot for the Coyotes on Saturday, as they went 2-for-2 on the power play while killing off five of six penalties against them.
Ritchie’s power-play goal at 4:51 of the first period tied the game at one, while forward Matias Maccelli recorded a goal with the man advantage halfway through the third period, which temporarily gave the Coyotes a 4-3 lead.
“We got better during the game, more structure, I like the leadership of some veterans on the bench,” said head coach André Tourigny. “We made a step in the right direction, starting to learn new guys, who can do what – it’s an evaluation process, the first four games especially will be more about evaluation than anything else, but we want to get better during our games, and today I think we made strides during the game.”
Hayton and Milos Kelemen recorded the other goals for the Coyotes, who are back in action on Sunday afternoon in Tucson. In all, seven different Coyotes recorded points on Saturday, including 2022 first-round draft pick Conor Geekie, who assisted on Kelemen’s second- period goal.
The Coyotes showed a lot of resilience throughout the game, overcoming three separate one-goal deficits before eventually going on to take the lead in the third. St. Louis answered with back-to-back goals from Matthew Kessel and Logan Brown 2:35 apart, though, which put them ahead for good.
“I think we played pretty good today,” Maccelli said. “There’s a couple of details we have to get better on and we’re going to win some games.”
Arizona returns to play on Sunday afternoon against the Anaheim Ducks at Tucson Arena – the first NHL game to be played in Tucson since 2017. Puck drop is scheduled for 2 pm MST, and tickets can be purchased here.
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