GLENDALE, Ariz. — Game 7 of the Blues-Coyotes series, the impromptu product of COVID-19 cancellations elsewhere in the West Division, actually started to look like a real Game 7, the kind you would see in the postseason, not the kind that was thrown together at a moment’s notice to keep idle teams busy.
The game was tightly played, there weren’t many penalties, and the sides went back and forth, exchanging chances and coming close. Arizona got a goal in the second period and made that stand up for a 1-0 win that gave the Coyotes a 4-3 edge in the first ever instance of and NHL or NBA team playing seven games in a row.
So for all these teams went through, the net gain for the Coyotes, who took nine points from the game while the Blues took seven.
The Blues will now come home and play San Jose on Thursday, the first team other than the Coyotes they have played since January.
The Coyotes took the lead 5:21 into the second period on a goal by St. Louisan Clayton Keller, whose shot went in off the glove of goalie Jordan Binnington. Keller now has 15 points against his hometown team – 5 goals, 10 assists – more than he has against any team in the league. Three of the goals and three of the assists have come in the seven games this season.
The Blues had a five-on-three for 34 seconds in the second period, but they kept their perfect record of not having scored one in the regular season since Dec. 9, 2016, covering more 23 minutes of two-man advantage. (They have scored on the five-on-three in the postseason in that span.) They managed two shots on goal, but that was all and the ensuing five-on-four didn’t offer much.
Then the close calls began. Vince Dunn had a shot go off the post 2 ½ minutes after Keller’s goal and then Arizona’s Conor Garland had two breakaways; the first he shot off the post, the second he shot high. The ensuing scramble led to a hooking call on Mackenzie MacEachern and a Coyotes power play at the start of the third.
Blues defenseman Torey Krug suffered an upper-body injury about the same time and did not return to the ice in the third period.
