Coyotes 2, Wild 1 (SO)
SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- Left winger Anthony Duclair scored the only goal in a shootout as the Arizona Coyotes won their second game in a row, beating the slump-ridden Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Monday.
Goaltender Louis Domingue, making his 15th start in the last 17 games for Arizona (24-19-5) had 34 saves and kept the Wild winless at home in January. Minnesota (23-17-9) last won a home game on Dec. 28 and heads into the All-Star break on a 1-6-1 streak.
Minnesota got a third-period goal from center Charlie Coyle and was less than 90 seconds from a win when Coyotes center Anoint Vermette scored shorthanded to tie the game with 1:13 to play in regulation. After managing just six shots on goal in the first two periods, the Coyotes threw 17 pucks at Dubnyk in the third.
The Wild dominated offensively for the first 40 minutes, holding Arizona to just six shots on goal through two periods, but once again struggled to score. In five home losses this month, Minnesota managed just seven goals, total.
The win by Arizona gives the Coyotes 53 points, which is just two behind Minnesota in the Western Conference playoff race, and with a game still to play before the All-Star break, the Coyotes can tie Wild with a win on Tuesday.
After right winger Nino Niederreiter kicked a puck out of the corner, Coyle got a high shot on Domingue that the goalie stopped. But Coyle hopped over Coyotes defender Michael Stone to get to the rebound, and tucked the puck between the goalie's pads to break the scoreless deadlock.
Vermette tied the game late when Dubnyk went behind the net to play a puck and got caught out of position, leaving the goal empty for Vermette, who banked a shot off Wild defender Jared Spurgeon and into the net.
Both teams had power plays in overtime, and the Coyotes thought they had won the game on a slap shot by Stone from the blue line, but referees immediately waved off the goal, ruling that left winger Mikkel Boedker had made contact with Dubnyk in the crease.
The teams emerged from the first period scoreless, after the Coyotes survived an onslaught by Minnesota. The Wild, who have been in a scoring slump lately, attempted 30 shots and got 13 of them through to Domingue but could not get on the scoreboard. Their best chance came with left winger Thomas Vanek in alone on the goalie, but his slap shot from the left circle deflected off Domingue's shoulder and out of play.
The Arizona offense was even quieter in the second period, when the Coyotes needed nearly 13 minutes to record a shot, were held without a shot during the full two minutes of a power play and finished with just two shots in the period. Minnesota dominated offensively, again, but could not solve the goalie, even when Coyle came in alone on Domingue late in the period, but was thwarted.
NOTES: Arizona recalled LW Christian Thomas from AHL Springfield but did not have him in the lineup Monday. Thomas was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 15 but has yet to play a game for the Coyotes. ... Minnesota returned from a West Coast road trip on Saturday night but had to practice away from Xcel Energy Center on Sunday as the U.S. Figure Skating Championships were being held in the their home rink. ... Arizona D Nicklas Grossmann was scratched for a second consecutive game due to illness. ... The Coyotes have one more game before the All-Star break, visiting the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night. Minnesota, in the midst of a stretch in which it plays seven of eight games on the road, is off until a Feb. 2 visit to the New York Islanders.