Raanta makes 40 saves, Coyotes beat Blues 4-3

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Antti Raanta made 40 saves, Tyler Pitlick and Nick Schmaltz scored first-period goals and the Arizona Coyotes beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3 on Thursday night.

Arizona got its first road win of the season in four tries. St. Louis, which had a four-game winning streak snapped, beat Arizona 4-3 on Tuesday.

Raanta improved to 5-2 against St. Louis. Jordan Binnington made 26 saves for St. Louis and fell to 6-2-1.

Mike Hoffman scored twice for the Blues. Hoffman’s first goal with 3:15 left in the game brought the Blues to within 3-1.

Conor Garland had a goal in the second period and Christian Dvorak added an empty-netter in the third for the Coyotes.

Arizona recorded 11 of the first 12 shots in the game. Pitlick converted off a pass from Drake Caggiula midway through the opening period for a 1-0 lead. Schmaltz pounced on a loose puck in the crease for a 2-0 lead.

St. Louis was 0 for 3 on the power play after an 0-for-5 effort on Tuesday.

STILL OUT

St. Louis D Robert Bortuzzo missed his ninth successive game with an upper-body injury from Jan. 15 against Colorado. He was able to participate in the morning skate.

Phoenix D Ilya Lyubushkin made his season debut. He was sidelined with visa problems and also had to spend a week in quarantine.

DIFFERENT COLOR

The Blues wore reverse retro uniforms for the first time this season. The red-based jerseys with blue trim will also be used on Feb 22.

“They’re pretty cool, they’re nifty,” St. Louis D Colton Parayko said.

UP NEXT:

Coyotes: Will play the Blues again on Saturday. Games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Minnesota were postponed due to COVID difficulties with the Wild.

Blues: Will host Arizona again on Saturday and Monday. Games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday against Colorado in St. Louis have been postponed due to COVID issues with the Avalanche.

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