Darcy Kuemper leads Arizona Coyotes to Game 3 win over Predators
The Coyotes rode Darcy Kuemper’s momentum to a Game 3 victory, pushing the Predators to the brink of elimination.
The Arizona Coyotes scored two late goals on Tuesday, but it did not lead to much momentum to start Game 3, at least not in terms of the pace of play. Nashville came out with speed, possessed the puck, and recorded the first eight shots of the game. It only took one shot, however, a perfectly executed redirect by Christian Dvorak, to give Arizona a lead on its first shot of the game.
Following the goal, the Predators continued to bring energy and control the play, registering the next four shots, and eventually leading 19-9 in first period shots and 15-5 in scoring chances.
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Darcy Kuemper, though, returned to his Game 1 form early, making 19 first period saves to keep the Coyotes in the game, and leading the charge for the duration of the game.
In the second period, the shots came at a slower pace for both teams, but after seven and a half minutes of play, Viktor Arvidsson broke through for Nashville to make it a 1-1 contest. His goal was the only one scored in the period, which saw only 14 combined shots on goal.
Just over a minute into the third period, Kyle Turris, a player who desperately needs to find his game in this series, appeared to score the go-ahead goal for the Predators. Unfortunately for him and Nashville, video review showed that the play was offside, and the goal was overturned.
Instead, the 2-1 lead would go to the Coyotes thanks to an impressive toe drag and goal by Conor Garland. That goal would prove to be all that Arizona needed.
Much like the first period, the Predators again spent a lot of time in the Coyotes’ zone testing Kuemper, but it wasn’t enough. Despite putting 16 shots on goal, Nashville was unable to pull even in the game.
An undisciplined penalty late in the period led to a Taylor Hall power play goal. Carl Soderberg tacked on an empty-net goal to round out the scoring.
The story of the game was the goaltending performance in the Arizona net. Kuemper faced 40 shots in the game and stopped 39 of them. The Coyotes also got a strong performance from Hall (one goal and one assist).
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Oddly enough, this was the first game of the series where a team did not trail by three goals entering the third period, yet the final score shows the largest margin of victory to this point. The Coyotes will have an opportunity to eliminate the Predators and advance to the Western Conference Quarterfinals in Game 4 on Friday.