Blue Jackets fall to Coyotes, 4-2

By AP
Published

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Darcy Kuemper stopped 33 shots and the Arizona Coyotes beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 on Tuesday night.

Arizona got another fine performance from Kuemper and goals from Clayton Keller, Christian Fischer and Lawson Crouse to snap a two-game losing streak and moved within a point of first-place Edmonton in the Pacific Division.

Carl Soderberg had an empty-net goal and assisted on two of the earlier goals.

Dean Kukan and Alexandre Texier scored and Joonas Korpisalo had 24 saves for the Blue Jackets, who have lost four of six and are lingering at seventh place in the Metropolitan. Columbus has struggled to get offensive production from its best players.

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Keller’s power-play goal opened the scoring with 49 seconds left in the first period. He snapped a shot from the right circle that was redirected by defender David Savard and went in just under the bar.

Kukan took advantage of a man-advantage early in the second period, dragging the puck into the right circle then shooting over Kuemper’s glove for his first NHL goal.

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Later in the second, Soderberg muscled the puck away in the neutral zone and fed a charging Fischer, who rifled in a top-shelf shot to put the Coyotes up 2-1.

Crouse redirected Soderberg’s shot late in the second to give Arizona a two-goal lead. Texier made it a one-goal game again early in the third when he beat Kuemper after Cam Atkinson shoveled a pass out to him from behind the goal line.

Soderberg added the empty-netter with 35 seconds left.

NOTES: Columbus played its first game without defenseman Zach Werenski, who injured his shoulder in Saturday’s game against the Islanders. Werenski, who will be out about a month, is the team’s third leading scorer. Scott Harrington, scratched the past seven games, replaced Werenski. ... F Riley Nash played in his 100th career game with the Blue Jackets and is one game away from the 500th in his NHL career. ... Arizona D Jakob Chychrun played in his 200th NHL game. ... The Coyotes are 11-2-2 when Keller scores a point.

UP NEXT:

Coyotes: At Philadelphia on Thursday.

Blue Jackets: Host New York Rangers on Thursday.