NEW YORK (AP) - The Arizona Coyotes have been finding ways to win lately and the New York Rangers have been doing the opposite.
That form held as Christian Dvorak scored 1:04 into overtime and the Coyotes beat the Rangers 3-2 on Tuesday night for their fourth straight victory.
Lawson Crouse and Alex Goligoski also scored for Arizona, which improved to 5-0-1 in its last six games. Darcy Kuemper made 17 saves while holding opponents to two or fewer goals for the 13th straight start.
“We’re just having fun. We feel good about our game, trying to do the right things,” Goligoski said. “We have everybody going.”
Tony DeAngelo scored twice and Alexandar Georgiev stopped 32 shots as the Rangers lost their fifth straight (0-4-1).
“We know we’re a lot better than this,” Rangers coach David Quinn said. “Our guys are fragile right now.”
On the winner, Dvorak got a pass from Goligoski and beat Georgiev with a high shot for his fourth of the season. Clayton Keller also assisted.
The Rangers trailed just 1-0 after 20 minutes despite being outshot 21-4 in the opening period and drawing boos from the home crowd as they left the ice.
“We knew after the first after we had 21 shots they would come out hard - but we held it together,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. “I like the way we played.”
The Rangers managed to tie it at 5:04 of the second when defenseman DeAngelo tapped the puck past Kuemper after Brendan Lemieux’s original tip-in attempt was stopped but the goalie couldn’t control the rebound. Pavel Buchnevich also assisted on the goal.
Goligoski put the Coyotes back ahead with 6:14 left in the middle period with a power-play goal as Buchnevich sat in the penalty box for tripping. Jakob Chychrun and Nick Schmaltz had assists on Goligoski’s first goal this season. It marked the fifth-straight game the Rangers have allowed a power-play goal.
The Rangers again tied it with 2:00 left in the period when D’Angelo notched his second of the night and third of the season on a power play. D’Angelo scored from in front on a pass from Ryan Strome. Rookie Kaapo Kakko added his first career assist on the play.
In the third, the Coyotes had a two-man advantage for 1:36 after Strome went off for tripping at 5:40, and Brendan Smith took a delay of game penalty at 6:04. Arizona managed just one shot on goal.
Crouse opened the scoring for the Coyotes with his second goal of the season with 6:54 left in the first, knocking a loose puck in the crease past Georgiev. Linemates Christian Fischer and Carl Soderberg drew assists.
Arizona also had two power-play chances in their dominant first period but couldn’t convert as Georgiev kept the home team in the game.
“Georgy played great,” Quinn said. “Our PK tonight allowed us to get a point.”
The Coyotes, who narrowly missed the playoffs last season, haven’t reached the postseason since 2012 when they made it to the Western Conference finals. They are showing steady improvement under Tocchet, who is in his third season behind the Arizona bench now seeing collective development from young talent such as Keller, Schmaltz and Crouse plus key veterans like Phil Kessel and Derek Stepan on the roster.
“Maturity means handling prosperity,” Tocchet added. “It feels like we’re chipping away and guys are buying in.”
The Coyotes were starting a four-game trip, which includes area games against the Islanders and New Jersey Devils plus a visit to the Sabres in Buffalo.
The Rangers continue their five-game homestand against the surging Sabres on Thursday. Buffalo is 8-1-1.
“We just have to dig our way out of this,” added Quinn, who is in his second season coaching the Rangers after leaving Boston University for the job. “We’re not in a great spot right now.”
NOTES: The Rangers have been outscored 20-9 in their losing streak. … The Rangers scratched F Micheal Haley. … The Coyotes scratched rookie C Barrett Hayton, D Aaron Ness and G 0Eric Comrie. … Schmaltz has nine points in Arizona’s last six games to lead the team in scoring. … Former Rangers forwards Derek Stepan and Michael Grabner plus backup goaltender Antti Raanta returned to the Garden with the Coyotes. … The teams meet again March 14 in Arizona. … The Rangers are 22-6-5 against Pacific Division teams at home since start of 2015-16 season.
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