Shayne Gostisbehere scored two goals to help the Arizona Coyotes rally from a four-goal deficit to beat the visiting Nashville Predators 5-4 in the final game at Gila River Arena on Friday night in Glendale, Ariz.
Gostisbehere scored his second goal at 10:27 of the third period to give the Coyotes a 5-4 lead.
Travis Boyd, Jack McBain and Michael Carcone also scored for the Coyotes, who are moving about 20 miles away to a smaller arena on the campus of Arizona State University next season.
Karel Vejmelka was pulled after allowing four goals on six shots against Nashville. Harri Sateri took over and stopped all 27 shots for Arizona (25-50-7, 57 points).
Colton Sissons, Ryan Johansen, Eeli Tolvanen and Mikael Granlund scored, and Connor Ingram made 22 saves for the Predators (45-30-7, 97 points), who will play the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Ingram was making his third NHL start after he was recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.
The Coyotes tied the score 4-4 on Carcone’s goal at 1:51 of the third period.
Ingram had four saves on a four-minute power play to keep the score tied.
The Predators scored three goals in the first 2:51, the fastest three goals to start a game in franchise history.
Roman Josi made a stretch pass to Sissons and he scored on a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle for a 1-0 lead 25 seconds into the game.
Johansen won a battle in the corner against Alex Galchenyuk and skated to the front of the Arizona net before flipping the puck into the net for a 2-0 lead at 2:06.
Tolvanen then stole the puck from Anton Stralman in the same corner, skated to the front of the net and scored on a backhand for a 3-0 lead at 2:51.
After the Coyotes made it 4-0 on a Granlund’s goal at 6:57, the Coyotes got on the scoreboard when O’Brien scored at 13:21 to cut the lead to 4-1.
The Coyotes further cut into the deficit when Boyd scored to make it 4-2 at 14:25 of the second period, and McBain scored with 1:36 left to make it 4-3.
–Field Level Media
