Scott Wedgewood found himself in a familiar situation. Four years ago, he was the goaltender when Arizona ended an 11-game losing streak to start the season. Claimed off waivers from New Jersey on Friday, Wedgewood stepped in again on Saturday night to help the Coyotes rally for their first win of the season, a 5-4 victory over the Seattle Kraken.
Wedgewood entered the game just 59 seconds in after Karel Vejmelka conceded two goals on Seattle’s first two shots. Wedgewood, who hadn’t even practiced with the team since rejoining them, made 27 saves.
“Happy to be back, I enjoyed my first time here,” Wedgewood said. “Legs are shaking a little bit, your new team, you know what’s at stake, and you’re down early, and you just want to keep them in it. In the second period, we started to really find our game.”
“He was unbelievable,” said Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny. “He made the difference.”
Lawson Crouse scored twice, including the game-winning goal with 1:05 remaining. The Coyotes (1-10-1) avoided setting a new franchise record for most losses to start a season. The only worse start in NHL history belongs to the 1943-44 New York Rangers, who lost their first 11 games and didn’t win until their 16th game.
“It was an emotional three weeks. But at the same time, we gotta continue to build off of it. But I’m not going to lie, it feels really good,” Crouse said.
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol described the loss as “disappointing.”
“Overall, in some critical areas, our focus was not there,” he said. “You look at the third goal, a pass-out play from underneath our goal line. Our awareness was not there. The communication wasn’t there.”
Regarding the early lead causing a loss of focus, Hakstol said, “That shouldn’t be part of it at all. We were able to build a 3-1 lead. We didn’t make them work hard enough.”
Tourigny earned his first win as an NHL coach.
“My first thought was for the players,” Tourigny said. “It gets heavy mentally. It hurts as a coach when they don’t get a reward. It was great to get that today. Guys stayed with it; we’re down 3-1 in the first. It was not like it’s a walk in the park, so the players believing in the process, in themselves, trusting in each other, that was huge.”
The lead changes were rapid at the end of the third period. Phil Kessel’s power-play goal put the Coyotes ahead with 6 minutes remaining, but Seattle’s Mark Giordano tied it up before Crouse scored the game-winner just 13 seconds later.
Shayne Gostisbehere assisted on three of Arizona’s goals. Antoine Roussel and Travis Boyd also scored for the Coyotes, while Johan Larsson had two assists.
For the Kraken, Jordan Eberle scored 15 seconds into the game, and Yanni Gourde scored at 59 seconds. Nathan Bastian also scored his first of the season. Philipp Grubauer made 17 saves.
QUICK START
Roussel’s first goal of the season came at 1:33 in the first period, marking the sixth time in NHL history that the first three goals were scored in the first 93 seconds of the game. The last NHL game, in which each of the first three shots was a goal, was between Montreal and Florida on December 28, 2007.
PICKING IT UP
Eberle’s goal was his fourth in two games, following a hat trick in the Kraken’s 5-2 victory over Buffalo on Thursday.
WHAT’S NEXT
- Seattle: At Vegas on Tuesday night.
- Arizona: Hosts Minnesota on Wednesday night.
