Martinook, Doan lift Coyotes past Hurricanes in third period
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Shane Doan is the aging leader of a struggling hockey team. He's still relishing the experience, though.
Arizona's 40-year-old captain had his first three-point game of the season and assisted on Jordan Martinook's winning goal as the Coyotes beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night.
Doan added a power-play empty-net goal in the final minute to clinch it. Christian Dvorak and Alex Goligoski also scored for Arizona, which snapped a five game skid against Carolina and a two-game slide overall. Louis Domingue made 32 saves in the finale of the Coyotes' six-game trip.
"We didn't play very well last night," Arizona coach Dave Tippett said of the 6-3 loss at Buffalo. "There was a lot of frustration from that game, and we came out today, and it took a while to figure out which players were moving better than others. (Doan) was one of those guys."
Carolina got goals from Lee Stempniak and Jordan Staal to erase an early 2-0 deficit, but still lost its fourth straight. Cam Ward stopped 18 shots.
"We gave up five shots in the third, and we turned the puck over on the game-winner, right?" Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. "When you turn pucks over in tough spots, bad things happen. The game winner is off a D-zone turnover is what it is."
And Vrby passes the belt to... pic.twitter.com/XYXB8MCQyi
— #Yotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) March 4, 2017
Martinook scored 9:02 into the third. Doan passed from behind the net to Martinook in front, and he beat Ward from the low slot.
"We kind of hung on there for a couple of periods," Martinook said. "And going into the third, we wanted to leave it all out there. Doaner was good. It was nice going back out there for a couple of shifts to rekindle that magic. `Devo' (Dvorak) has been hogging him all year."
Dvorak scored 11:34 into the first by taking Doan's cross-ice pass on a rush and beating Ward high to the glove side.
"Everybody wants to contribute offensively, and I haven't done a very good job for the most part this whole year," Doan said. "When you get an opportunity to and you're able to, it feels great. I wish it happened more often. We've said in the room a few times it's such an incredible blessing to get to play hockey in the NHL. You have a very limited number of games and it's pretty special. You've got to enjoy that."
Goligoski made it 2-0 with 2:31 left in the first. He beat Ward stick side off a centering pass from former Hurricane Radim Vrbata, who got his team-best 33rd assist.
Stempniak scored nearly two minutes later, re-directing Jaccob Slavin's blast from the left point over Domingue's left shoulder. Jay McClement, playing in his 900th NHL game, got a point in his second straight game.
Staal tied it at 1:30 of the second, taking a centering pass from Teuvo Tervainen and slamming the puck past Domingue on the open glove side of the net.
NOTES: Coyotes LW Jamie McGinn is the older brother of Hurricanes LW Brock McGinn. ... Vrbata played 106 games with Carolina from 2002-06. ... Brock McGinn (upper body) missed his second straight game while D Matt Tennyson was a healthy scratch for Carolina. ... Arizona C Alexander Burmistrov (upper body) missed his second straight game while Kevin Connauton (upper body) was also out. LW Teemu Pulkkinen was a healthy extra. ... Carolina C Andrej Nestrasil was sent to Charlotte of the AHL on Friday.
UP NEXT
Coyotes host Carolina on Sunday night in the opener of a four-game homestand.
