Garland nets game-winner after getting faced bloodied
EDMONTON, Alberta --Conor Garland didn't even need his stick to help the Arizona Coyotes beat the Edmonton Oilers.
Garland scored a pair of power-play goals, one that went in off his face and left him bloodied and another off his skate , as the Coyotes defeated the Oilers 3-2 Saturday night.
"I wasn't too sure what hit me," said Garland, who needed 10 stitches after the puck struck him above the left eye. "I knew I got hit and then I saw the blood and as I was going off the ice, someone yelled `nice goal,' so that's when I realized. Then it was on the TV in the medical room, so I got to see it.
"It was pain, but more I was wondering where the blood was coming from. I don't know how to describe it, I have to go the net if I want to play in this league and get some goals from the blue paint. That's the way it has to be."
Jordan Oesterle also scored for the Coyotes, who have won three straight.
"I thought everybody contributed tonight, there were no passengers," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. "After we scored those two goals, we could tell we got a little more confidence. We rolled the four lines and everybody contributed tonight."
Connor McDavid and Kris Russell scored for the Oilers, who have lost nine of 12.
"We had a couple of bad bounces, obviously," McDavid said. "One goes off a guy's face and the other one bounces back into the slot off of the end boards. You can't just blame it on that. We could have been better, for sure."
Arizona's Oliver Ekman-Larsson is checked by Edmonton's Darnell Nurse during the first period Saturday. (Jason Franson/AP)
The Oilers opened the scoring in the first period when McDavid fought off a pair of defenders and moved in on a breakaway, beating goalie Darcy Kuemper for his 27th goal of the season.
Arizona tied it up just over a minute into the second period as Oesterle beat Edmonton starter Cam Talbot. The goal survived a video review for a suspected offside.
The Oilers took a penalty for challenging that goal and the Coyotes made them pay.
Garland scored on a scary play as a point shot struck him in the face when he was in the crease and the puck went into the net. Garland was bleeding heavily and taken to the dressing room.
Edmonton tied it up with three minutes left in the second period as the puck came out front to Russell, who waited for Kuemper to go down and scored his second of the season.
Garland came back for the third period and got his second goal of the game on a power play as the puck caromed off his skate and into the net for his sixth goal in four games.
NOTES: The Coyotes have been riddled with injuries this season, coming into the game with 210 man-games lost to injury or illness. That's the third-most in the NHL. Among those out for Saturday's game included Christian Dvorak (upper body), Jason Demers (upper body), Antti Raanta (lower body), Michael Grabner (upper body), Nick Schmaltz (lower body) and Brad Richardson (upper body). ... Center Jordan Weal made his debut for Arizona after being acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday in a trade for defenseman Jacob Graves and a sixth-round pick.
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Coyotes conclude a three-game road swing in Calgary on Sunday.
