GLENDALE Womens Wayne Simmonds Jersey , Ariz. — are well aware of the dangers of waiting until January or February to start making a playoff push.Perhaps that’s why they often take care of business, and in an emphatic way, well before that.The Arizona Coyotes, whose inability to reach the playoffs is in direct contrast to the Lightning’s frequent playoff success, know all too well how a season can get away from a team in October.Article continues below ...The Lightning, off to their usual strong start, will take a seven-game points streak into Gila River Arena to play the Coyotes on Saturday night. It’s the second half of a back-to-back for the Lightning, who won their third in a row by defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.Tyler Johnson, Brayden Point and J.T. Miller scored for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves.“Our goaltender was there when we needed him and recorded a big win in a tough spot on the road,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “He was in the zone again and was tracking pucks, and our guys were good with letting him see pucks. You can get the shots, but if he can see them http://www.senatorsshoponline.com/authentic-bobby-ryan-jersey , he’ll usually stop them.”Victor Hedman, the Lightning’s star defenseman, sustained an undisclosed injury midway through the first period and didn’t return. He is not expected to play Saturday, but Cooper doesn’t think his injury will be long term.The Lightning are 7-1-1 overall and 6-0-1 in their last seven games. Nothing new there for a team that opened up 9-1-1 and 16-3-2 last season and was 5-1 to start the 2016-17 season. They’ve used good beginnings to help them reach the Eastern Conference finals two of the last three seasons.The Coyotes, however, aren’t the team they were at the start of the last two NHL seasons — and that’s encouraging to coach Rick Tocchet and his players.Arizona opened up 1-10-1 last season and never recovered. The season before that, the Coyotes lost five of their first six. This season, the Coyotes (4-5-0) have won two in a row — the first time in three Octobers they’ve done that — and three of four. Much of the reason for the Coyotes’ improvement is their goaltending, with both starter Antti Raanta (2-4, 2.32 goals-against average) and backup Darcy Kuemper (2-1, 1.34) playing well to date.“We’ve gotten excellent goaltending, right from the start of the year, and it’s really helped us Chris Wideman Jersey ,” Tocchet said Friday. “We’re still giving up some Grade-A chances, and we’ll try to eliminate that, but the goalies have been really good. They’re giving us a chance to win every night.”Raanta sat out the last two games with flu-like symptoms, and Kuemper stepped in to make 62 saves on 64 shots as the Coyotes beat the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday and the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, both by 4-1 scores.The Coyotes’ season quickly came apart last season when Raanta missed much of the first half of the season with three different injuries and Tocchet and general manager John Chayka couldn’t find a suitable backup. They tried Louis Domingue, Scott Wedgewood and Adin Hill without success, with Dominque going 0-6 with a 4.33 goals-against average and an .856 save percentage.But once Raanta was healthy during the second half of the season, his 2.24 goals-against average and .930 save percentage were the best in the NHL for goaltenders who played as much as he did. And Chayka not only picked up the reliable Kuemper in a late-season trade with the Los Angeles Kings, he signed Raanta and Kuemper to multi-year contracts.Coincidentally, Domingue landed with the Lightning despite his horrid statistics with Arizona, and he’ll start Saturday night against his former team.The Coyotes also appear to have solved their early-season scoring issues. They were shut out in three of their first four games, including their first two home games, but they’ve scored 15 goals in the past four games.“We didn’t score in the first few games Womens Craig Anderson Jersey , but we knew if we stuck with it the goals would come in bunches, and that’s kind of happened,” forward Brendan Perlini said.The Lightning and Coyotes split their two-game season series in 2017-18, with each team winning in the other’s building. WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) Dion Phaneuf is fitting in nicely with the Los Angeles Kings.The veteran defenseman scored on the power play for his third goal in four games with Los Angeles, helping the Kings cap a seven-game road trip with a 4-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.Alec Martinez also scored with the man advantage and Dustin Brown’s goal late in the third period stood as the winner. Torrey Mitchell had the other goal for the Kings, and Darcy Kuemper stopped 30 shots.Article continues below ...”Why are we calling them (Martinez and Phaneuf) the second unit?” Los Angeles coach John Stevens quipped. ”They were the first unit tonight.”I thought they were terrific. They had a game plan. They moved the puck quickly and they came up with a lot of loose pucks. Dion’s been a good fit there. He wants to shoot the puck all the time.”Anze Kopitar picked up an assist on Brown’s goal, giving him his 800th NHL point in his 900th career game.Patrik Laine scored on the power play with 49 seconds left to trim the deficit for Winnipeg, which had won three in a row. Blake Wheeler and Dustin Byfuglien had the other Jets goals, and Laine added an assist.Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves for the Jets, who completed a 6-3-1 homestand – their longest of the season. Winnipeg has given up four power-play goals in the past two games.”Penalty kill is kind of leaking oil right now,” Wheeler said.”Just kind of wrong penalties at the wrong time. They capitalized, stole some momentum. Still 2-2 going into the third at home Authentic Erik Karlsson Jersey Kids , I don’t think we hate that spot. Just weren’t able to get one early enough to go in the third.”It was the third consecutive win for the Kings, who were coming off a 3-1 victory at Chicago the night before and went 4-3 on their trip.Los Angeles is tied with Anaheim for third place in the Pacific Division with 71 points, three behind second-place San Jose.”We knew we had a chance to get into the playoff picture here tonight so we were pretty determined to do that and we just did a great job,” said Kuemper, who won his fifth straight start.The Jets went on an early two-man advantage and made it count when Wheeler fired a high shot over Kuemper’s glove at 5:46 of the first period.Wheeler also had an assist in running his point streak to six games, with three goals and eight assists during that span. He has 14 points in his last 10 games.The Kings started off the second period on a high note with their own power-play goal. Martinez’s point shot went through traffic for his sixth of the season at 1:49.Phaneuf then added his sixth goal of the season – and third since being traded to the Kings from Ottawa last week – at 17:05 with Jets forward Nic Petan in the penalty box for slashing.”They had some really good screeners in front of me,” said Hellebuyck, who was making his ninth straight start. ”I found myself up high a lot.”Give them credit, they’re a good team. They’ve won a couple of Stanley Cups for that reason: They know how to screen a goaltender. It makes a world of difference.”Byfuglien’s fourth goal of the season tied it 2-all with 65 seconds left in the second.Los Angeles took a 3-2 lead when Mitchell scored his second goal in two games by picking up a bouncing puck in front of Winnipeg’s crease and finding some open net at 6:17.Byfuglien took a high-sticking penalty with 6:14 left in the third, and Brown scored eight seconds after it expired. Kopitar’s assist gave him 19 points in his last 16 games (seven goals, 12 assists).NOTES: Both teams went 2 for 5 on the power play. … Laine has scored an NHL-leading 16 of his 27 goals on the power play.UP NEXTKings: Host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.Jets: Begin a two-game road trip Friday in St. Louis.—