Ducks’ scoring woes continue in shutout loss to Coyotes
Connor Ingram made 28 saves in his fifth career shutout and Lawson Crouse scored his team-leading 16th goal in the Arizona Coyotes’ 2-0 victory over the Ducks on Friday night.
Clayton Keller scored a power-play goal for Arizona, which matched its road victory total from last season. The Coyotes had an NHL-worst seven road wins last season while finishing seventh in the Central Division, but this seventh road victory of the new season moved Arizona up to fourth in the division in its final game of 2023.
Two days after rallying from a four-goal deficit to beat Colorado in overtime, Arizona took an early lead and kept it comfortably. The Coyotes completed their three-game season series against the Ducks with two victories.
“The last two games, I don’t think we wavered,” Arizona coach André Tourigny said. “I think we played solid every game. We’re consistent. I’m happy about the mind set, what we’re trying to do, the focus, the communication on the bench. Everything right now, it’s pretty good.”
Jamie Drysdale put in his first goal in nearly 21 months and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 Wednesday night.
Ingram made a handful of impressive stops while posting his fourth shutout in his 12 appearances since Nov. 25, but he said the Coyotes’ end-to-end dominance in front of him made it relatively easy.
“Not a lot I didn’t see, so that’s huge,” Ingram said. “When you see it, you’re probably going to stop it. So I think we did a great job of that and got it done. Let’s get out of here and go home.”
John Gibson stopped 30 shots in a strong performance for the Ducks, who otherwise gave a relatively lifeless effort two days after an impressive 5-2 victory over Vegas. The Ducks were shut out for the third time in 10 games and the second time in four games on its current eight-game homestand.
“They outworked us, and they won 70% of the 1-on-1 puck battles,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “We couldn’t make a pass. We couldn’t hit tape. To me, it looked like they came out to win a hockey game, we came out to play hockey. ... That game easily could have been 5-0.″
Keller opened the scoring less than eight minutes in with a wide-open shot on a power play for his 13th goal of the season. Arizona hadn’t scored in the first period during its previous six games.
Anaheim repeatedly struggled in its own end against the Coyotes’ forecheck, and Arizona doubled its lead midway through the second period when Matias Maccelli took the puck away from two Ducks and made a spectacular cross-ice pass to Lawson for a one-timer.
The Ducks’ win over Vegas was their third in five games during their strongest stretch of play in roughly eight weeks, but they’ve now lost 16 of their last 20 overall.
“We’ve got to start stringing some wins together here on home ice, but the consistency is something that we’re still searching for as a group,” Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said. “Seems like we string together four or five good games, and kind of slide a below-average game in there. We have to figure out ways to be in games night in and night out and have that same consistent play. You’re not going to win every time, but we didn’t feel like we even gave ourselves an opportunity tonight.”
Ducks forward Troy Terry went to the dressing room midway through the third period after colliding headfirst with teammate Mason McTavish, who was trying to throw a check. Terry is a two-time All-Star who has 22 points in 34 games this season, including eight points in his previous eight games.
The Ducks played their third straight game without key contributors Radko Gudas (lower body) and rookie center Leo Carlsson (sprained knee).
Up next for the Ducks: vs. Edmonton Oilers at Honda Center on Sunday.
