Garland completes 1st career hat trick in OT as Canucks end season with win over Coyotes
Rick Tocchet finishes 20-12-4 after replacing Bruce Boudreau as Vancouver's coach
Conor Garland capped his first career hat trick 1:19 into overtime, and the visiting Vancouver Canucks beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-4 Thursday night in the season finale for both teams.
"I thought the Coyotes really worked hard," said Tocchet, who coached the Coyotes for four seasons ending in 2020-21. "It was a weird game, we got the win but it's one of those games where I think both teams just wanted to get the season over with."
Liam O'Brien scored twice and Nick Schmaltz and Travis Boyd each had a goal for the Coyotes, who completed their first season at Mullett Arena with a 21-16-4 home record. Clayton Keller assisted on Boyd's goal in the waning seconds of the first period, allowing him to tie Keith Tkachuk for the most points in a season (86) since the Coyotes moved to the desert in 1996.
Karel Vejmelka finished with 19 saves for Arizona.
WATCH | Garland's hat trick leads Canucks past Coyotes:
"Really proud of the way we battled," Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. "They never quit. Would have been easy tonight, we were down early. I think it was a good (reflection) of our season. They showed a lot of character."
Vancouver dominated the opening portion of the game; at one point the Canucks had four goals and the Coyotes had just three shots on goal but Arizona ended up with a 28-24 shots advantage.
Pettersson opened the scoring 3:53 into the game. On Monday he reached the 100-point mark, just the sixth to hit that milestone for the Canucks since they entered the NHL in 1970-71.
Miller scored on the power play with 7:39 remaining in the first with Boyd off for holding, and Garland's second of the period with 5:44 left put Vancouver in control at 4-1. However, Boyd scored with just 7 seconds to go in the period to give Arizona some momentum heading to the break.
After the Canucks had 16 shots on goal in the first period, they managed only two in the second and were fortunate to keep the lead. O'Brien's second, with the same duo of Michael Kesselring and Jack McBain assisting, came midway through the period. The Coyotes also managed to stay out of the penalty box in the second.
Schmaltz tied it with 3:40 remaining, getting career goal No. 100.
Both teams head into the off-season after missing the playoffs.
