GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) Michael Grabner scored two short-handed goals to help the Arizona Coyotes beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-1 on Saturday night.
Clayton Keller, Vinnie Hinostroza, Jordan Oesterle, Derek Stepan and Richard Panik also had goals for the Coyotes, who had a season-high. Antti Raanta made 29 saves as the Coyotes won their third straight game while breaking the Lightning’s seven-game points streak.
The Coyotes (5-5-0) have scored 22 goals in the last five games after a slow start in which they were shut out in three of their first four games and did not have an even-strength goal until their fifth game. They reached .500 for the first time this season and lead the league with five short-handed goals.
Adam Erne scored his first goal of the season at 9:27 of the third period for Tampa Bay (7-2-1), which had not lost since falling to Vancouver in the second game of the season. Lightning goalie Louis Domingue made 23 saves in his first game against his former team.
Brad Richardson and Alex Goligoski had two assists and Raanta had one, on Hinostroza’s goal. Raanta has three career assists, the last while with the Rangers in 2016-17.
The Coyotes struck early with three goals in the first period. Oesterle gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead with his first goal of the season on a slap shot from the left blue line through traffic at 6:55 of the first period. Lightning coach Jon Cooper initiated a challenge for goalie interference, but the goal stood.
Keller put a wrist shot through Domingue’s pads less than two minutes later at 8:51. Stepan made it 3-0 when he scored his first goal of the season by finishing a 3-on-2 break at 12:57.
Hinostroza skated unimpeded in between the circles and the found an open side of the net at 8:26 of the second period for a 4-0 lead, and Grabner scored his first short-handed goal at 11:48 of the second.
Grabner had his second short-handed goal in the third period for a 5-0 lead before Erne broke Rantt’s shutout.
NOTES
Coyotes: Goalie Antti Raanta returned after missing the previous two games with flu-like symptoms.
Lightning: Defenseman Victor Hedman, who won the Norris Trophy last season, did not play and is expected to miss at least a week after suffering an upper body injury in the second period of a 3-2 victory at Las Vegas on Friday.
UP NEXT
Coyotes: Host Ottawa on Tuesday in the third game of a five-game homestand.
Lightning: Host New Jersey on Tuesday.
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