The Arizona Coyotes faced off with the New Jersey Devils looking to end a four-game losing streak.
It was not a night to remember for the Arizona Coyotes.
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They once again suffered from defensive coverage and spotty goaltending, and this time those two increasingly regular occurrences were backed up by some questionable officiating.
Jordan Martinook was bumped up the lineup in a curious decision by Head Coach Dave Tippett.
Fans weren’t sure if it was the team grasping at straws, or if the move was a message to the other players in the lineup about Martinook’s work ethic.
Either way, Martyman made good on Tipp’s confidence by scoring 7:04 into the first period.
Alex Goligoski fired a puck and Corey Schneider left a juicy rebound which Martinook cleaned up
From there, Taylor Hall took over the game.
He beat Justin Peters cleanly with a shot off of a face-off, and then scored again on the power play when he blew past an ill-advised clearing attempt by Luke Schenn.
A series of unfortunate errors led to Adam Henrique’s goal.
Alex Goligoski, Brad Richardson, and Michael Stone all failed to clear the puck before Henrique scored to give the Devils a 3-1 lead.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson wasn’t about to lose his fifth straight game, however.
The Arizona Coyotes’ all-world defenseman scored twice in the third period.
The second, a point shot on the power play, had Coyotes fans dreaming that the losing streak was finally over.
Instead, they ended up the unfortunate beneficiaries of a questionable call by the officials.
The refs decided to send Connor Murphy to the box for high-sticking, meanwhile Martin Hanzal was laid out on the ice from receiving the same from a different Devils player.
Justin Peters let in a soft goal by Travis Zajac on the ensuing power play to put the Yotes back in a 4-3 hole.
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The bad night wasn’t yet complete.
With Peters pulled for an extra attacker, the Devils’ Ben Lovejoy cleared the puck and it was headed for icing…until it hit the linesman’s skate and bounced right to Zajac who scored an easy empty-netter to ice the game.
Dave Tippett and company were livid, but the damage was done. Coyotes lose 5-3.
Arizona Coyotes Player of the Game
Jordan Martinook? Oliver Ekman-Larsson? Let’s give it to both.
Martinook took on a job he hadn’t since major junior hockey – playing center – and scored the team’s first goal and was his usual tenacious self on the forecheck. He did win just 33% of his draws but was otherwise quite impressive.
OEL gets the nod because without him, the team would be 0-6. He has four goals on the season already. That’s as a defenseman, meanwhile Max Domi and Anthony Duclair have zilch.
The View From The 200 Level
Words can’t even describe how brutal this loss was.
The Arizona Coyotes put together their best period of the season in the first period, and then are quickly down 2-1 and then 3-1.
After all of that, they scratch and claw their way back into the game…only to see the effort go for naught with a strange penalty call (or no penalty call, depending on how you want to look at it) and a linesman who couldn’t get out of the way of the puck.
There was also the fact that Justin Peters is, well, Justin Peters. He gave the Yotes exactly what they signed up for, for better or worse.
Duclomi are cold as ice. Hanzal isn’t producing much.
None of the high-flying kids are producing either, with the exception of Jakob Chychrun, and even he hasn’t had a point in several games now.
If Arizona doesn’t find a way to turn things around soon, they may be scouting Nolan Patrick et al sooner than later.
They are now off to their worst start in franchise history. Let that sink in.
There are some big decisions coming up soon regarding Jakob Chychrun, Dylan Strome, and Lawson Crouse. Based on playtime I would assume everyone but Chychrun gets sent down, but…
If the Coyotes are truly in the tank, it will have been a complete waste to send these youngsters back to beat up on kids in junior when they could get playtime without worry about winning here in Glendale.
It’s a bit early to say the Coyotes are on that path, but they are certainly on a nearby adjacent trail.
They’ve got one more road game against Philadelphia to turn things around before their homestand. Let’s hope they can get another two points from the Flyers.
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