TEMPE, Ariz. — — Troy Terry saw his teammate go down, the referee’s hand went up for a major penalty and kept skating. Using some nifty stickhandling, he weaved around a defender and scored before the offending Arizona player could be sent to the penalty box.
Cam Fowler scored once the power play started and the Anaheim Ducks used a rare fast start to beat the Coyotes 5-2 on Tuesday night.
“That’s Troy,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said, “He has that ability to go through people. He’s unbelievable at putting pucks underneath guys sticks and controlling it that way. He could easily have had a couple more.”
Plagued by slow recent starts, the Ducks jumped on the Coyotes early and scored twice after a game misconduct was called on Arizona’s Juuso Valimaki. Fowler had two goals and an assist. Frank Vatrano added a goal and assist to give Anaheim a 4-0 lead after falling behind three goals in each of the previous two games.
“It feels like we’ve been spotting other teams goals in the first period, just through mental errors, and I thought we limited that,” said Terry, who had two assists. “I thought we had a lot of energy to start.”
Arizona’s didn’t come until late.
The Coyotes picked up the intensity after Fowler’s second goal, cutting Anaheim’s lead in half on goals by Barrett Hayton and Nick Schmaltz.
Adam Henrique ended Arizona’s hopes of completing the comeback on an empty-net goal with 3 1/2 minutes left.
Connor Ingram had 39 saves for Arizona, which has lost 12 of 14.
“I like the no quit at the end,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “I didn’t like our start. A little bit sloppy defensively and they’re a skilled team.”
The Ducks had to rally from three-goal deficits in their last two games, beating Columbus 5-3 and losing to Buffalo 6-3.
Anaheim got off to a much better start against Arizona, scoring late in the first period when Vatrano beat Ingram with a one-timer from the slot.
In the second period, Anaheim took advantage after Valimaki received a five-minute major and game misconduct for a retaliatory slash to the back of Max Jones.
Valimaki was sent off before Terry scored, stick handling his way around Dylan Guenther then beating Ingram to the glove side on a delayed penalty.
“I had a lot of space to get some speed going,” Terry said. “That’s kind of exciting as it’s tough to get the pockets with space in the National Hockey League. So when there’s a delayed penalty, you take advantage of times like that.”
Fowler made it 3-0 on the power play, beating Ingram through traffic just inside the blue line. He scored again from near the blue line early in the second period on a shot. Ingram had trouble seeing through a screen.
The Coyotes fought back.
Hayton scored on a short breakaway midway through the third period after Ducks defenseman Simon Benoit turned it over in his own end. Schmaltz scored on a power play less than four minutes later, punching in a rebound after Jakob Chychrun broke his stick on a shot.
“We crawled back into it,” Tourigny said. “A lot of fight and the guys never quit.”
They just started too late.
KELEMAN’S DEBUT
Coyotes forward Milos Keleman made his NHL debut after being called up from Tucson of the AHL.
He was nervous, as expected, even during his traditional solo warmup lap.
“I had to be careful because maybe I’d fall and it would be funny,” he said. “I was careful, but it was amazing.”
The 23-year-old Slovakian had one shot and three hits in 10 minutes of ice time.
Game notes
Anaheim D John Klingberg did not play due to an illness. … The Coyotes signed Valimaki to a one-year contract extension earlier Tuesday. The 24-year-old Finnish player has five goals and 23 assists in 125 career NHL games with Arizona and Calgary. … Anaheim F Trevor Zegras had an assist on Fowler’s first goal to extend his point streak to six games.
UP NEXT
Ducks at Colorado on Thursday night.
Coyotes: Hosts St. Louis on Thursday night.
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