ST. LOUIS — Clayton Keller scored with one second left in the third period, and the Arizona Coyotes rallied for their third straight win, 4-3 in a shootout against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Monday.
Keller tied it 3-3 when he took a behind-the-back pass from Christian Dvorak and scored from the right face-off circle for a power-play goal with Coyotes goalie Darcy Kuemper pulled for an extra attacker.
The Blues had the chance to potentially close the game out after Keller was called for holding at 17:35 of the third period, but the power play ended at 18:31 when St. Louis forward Jaden Schwartz was called for high sticking.
“It’s not great to go in the box there, but yeah, I think it was a great game,” Keller said. “I was saying right before getting out of the box to get right to the net. I kind of kept it in the back of my head. [Dvorak] makes an unbelievable play, behind-the-back pass right on my tape, and I put it in the open net.
“I’ve seen him make that play a bunch throughout the years, just kind of like a behind-the-back or no-look pass to the back door. I like to think I’m always calling for the puck.”
It was the latest tying goal in Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets history; Winnipeg defenseman Moe Mantha scored with two seconds remaining against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 18, 1984.
Arizona has scored a tying goal in the final five seconds twice this season; forward Phil Kessel scored with four seconds left in a 4-3 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks on Jan. 14.
Kuemper made 40 saves, and Dvorak had a goal and an assist before scoring the deciding goal in the shootout for the Coyotes (6-5-1), who have won three in a row against the Blues (7-4-2).
“This was back-and-forth, both teams were working hard,” Arizona coach Rick Tocchet said. “There’s ebbs and flows to the game and we stuck with it. A lot of good moments, a lot of big moments for our team. It was a gutsy effort.”
Ryan O’Reilly scored two goals and had an assist, David Perron had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Binnington made 23 saves for St. Louis.
It was the fourth straight game between the Blues and Coyotes here; St. Louis won 4-3 on Tuesday before Arizona won the next two, 4-3 on Thursday and 3-1 on Saturday. They will play two more games against each other at Arizona on Saturday and Monday.
“I just don’t think we played well enough, played hard enough,” O’Reilly said. “Again, we didn’t outcompete them. It’s embarrassing. We just lost three in a row at home to that team and just sparked them to give them that much. Four, I guess, not-so-great games. It’s very disappointing. It’s embarrassing.”
O’Reilly’s second goal of the game was his 200th in the NHL and gave the Blues a 3-2 lead at 3:44 of the third period. His power-play goal on the rebound of Perron’s wrist shot was the first for the Blues against the Coyotes in 24 chances and made it 1-0 at 13:29 of the first.
The Coyotes tied it 1-1 when Conor Garland scored on a rebound at 1:48 of the second period to extend his point streak to five games (three goals, four assists).
Perron gave the Blues a 2-1 lead at 8:11 when he tucked a second chance inside the left post after initially fanning on his first shot.
Arizona responded again when Dvorak scored on a rebound for a power-play goal at 11:36 of the second to tie it 2-2.
“We played our game tonight I thought a lot more,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “Puck possession in the offensive zone, grinding down low, working, I thought it was a really good job of that tonight. A lot of positives in the game; we’ve just got to stay going.
“We’re going through some adversity right now and we’ll get through it.”
NOTES: Keller’s goal was also the latest tying goal this season; Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba scored with two seconds left against the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 16. … Blues forward Sammy Blais was a late scratch with an upper-body injury. He was replaced by forward Mackenzie MacEachern, who was recalled from the taxi squad.
