Carl Soderberg collected a goal and two assists, and Darcy Kuemper made 33 saves as the visiting Arizona Coyotes skated to a 4-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
Clayton Keller, Christian Fischer and Lawson Crouse also tallied for Arizona, which snapped a modest two-game skid overall and improved to 9-3-3 on the road this season.
Defenseman Dean Kukan scored his first career NHL goal, Alexandre Texier also tallied, and Joonas Korpisalo turned aside 24 shots for the Blue Jackets, who fell to 8-2-0 in their past 10 encounters with the Coyotes.
Fischer, who recorded a hat trick in his previous trip to Columbus, gave Arizona a 2-1 lead at 9:35 of the second period. The 22-year-old unleashed a blast from the high slot that sailed under the crossbar for his fourth goal of the season.
The Coyotes doubled the advantage just over seven minutes later when Soderberg's wrist shot from the high slot deflected off Crouse and into the net. Crouse's goal was his sixth of the season and fourth in his past seven games.
Texier converted Cam Atkinson's centering feed to halve the deficit 2:13 into the third period. Atkinson was playing in his 554th game, passing defenseman Fedor Tyutin for the second most in franchise history. Rick Nash is the leader with 674 appearances.
The Blue Jackets pressed for the equalizer before Soderberg sealed the win by scoring into the empty net with 35 seconds remaining in the third period.
With 49 seconds remaining in the first period, Phil Kessel drew the attention of Columbus' defense along the left-wing wall before feeding Christian Dvorak, who sent a circle-to-circle pass to Keller for a one-timer to open the scoring. The goal was Keller's fifth of the season and first since Nov. 12 in Arizona's 3-2 shootout win against St. Louis.
The Blue Jackets took advantage of defenseman Jakob Chychrun's high-sticking double-minor penalty early in the second period before forging a tie at 2:24. Sonny Milano wired a cross-seam pass from the edge of the left circle to the top of the right for Kukan, who sailed a shot under the crossbar.
Kukan, 26, was playing in his 63rd NHL game, his 19th this season.
--Field Level Media
Arizona | Columbus | |
Carl Soderberg 3 | Points | Dean Kukan 1 |
Carl Soderberg 1 | Goals | Dean Kukan 1 |
Carl Soderberg 2 | Assists | Cam Atkinson 1 |
Clayton Keller 1 | Power Play Goals | Dean Kukan 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Darcy Kuemper .943 | Save Percentage | Joonas Korpisalo .889 |
Darcy Kuemper 33 | Saves | Joonas Korpisalo 24 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Arizona | 28 | 4 | 1-1 | 2-3 | 6 | 30 |
Columbus | 35 | 2 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 2 | 23 |