Coyotes return home to face Jets (Nov 11, 2017)
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Coyotes finally won on the road -- once. The Coyotes finally won at home -- once.
What they still haven't done in 18 games this season -- 16 of them losses -- is win a game in a regulation 60 minutes. And the NHL schedule makers aren't making it any easier on the worst-record team in the league to finally get that elusive victory.
The road-weary Coyotes return home to play the Winnipeg Jets at Gila River Arena on Saturday night, their only game there in a span of eight games. After finally getting their first home win by beating the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 in overtime last Saturday, they embarked on their second Eastern swing of the season -- and lost all three games, going 0-1-2.
Next up: another Eastern swing, this consisting of four games starting Tuesday night with a return date against Winnipeg (8-4-3). After that, they play at Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto before finally playing three home games in a four-night span during Thanksgiving week.
One Eastern trip for a team that's struggling as badly as the Coyotes are would be difficult enough, but this upcoming trek will be their third such swing in the span of a month. They went 1-4 last month during their first trek East, where their only win came in Philadelphia.
It almost doesn't seem fair.
"We were a little bit on fumes," coach Rick Tocchet said following a 3-2 shootout loss in St. Louis on Thursday night, when the Coyotes couldn't hold a 2-1 edge in the third period. "(But) to be in it right to the end, I think the guys did a nice job. It was a hell of an effort."
"It's frustrating when you play against this kind of team and have a good chance to win and can't. But we need to get some good things out of it," goaltender Antti Raanta said.
Except the NHL doesn't award points for effort, only winning. Still, Raanta, who finally seems to have shaken off a pair of early season lower-body injuries, sees some hope for a team that began the season with an 11-game losing streak -- and has won only twice in seven subsequent games.
"(St. Louis) was one of the best games (the) whole year we have played," Raanta said. "It's a great work ethic, the whole team. ... We need to keep working and our heads up. If we have this kind of work ethic every game we play, we're going to have much more points."
The Coyotes finally got a couple of goals from someone other than rookie Clayton Keller, who leads the team with 11 goals, as Brendan Perlini found the net twice against the Blues. But they're still having trouble shutting down the other team -- their 70 goals allowed are easily the most in the league -- and they're only 21st in goals scored. By contrast, the Jets have allowed only (40) goals.
They're also catching Winnipeg at a bad time -- and off a bad game. The Jets were 5-0-3 over an eight-game span until losing 5-2 at Las Vegas on Friday, the first time in nine games they didn't grab at least a point. They were surging in part because of the strong play of goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who was 8-0-2 until giving up five goals on 21 shots on Friday.
Backup Steve Mason is 0-3-1 with a 4.84 goals-against average but, with the Jets playing a back-to-back, there's a good chance he might start Saturday. He finished up Friday and stopped all five shots he faced.
Arizona defenseman Alex Goligoski has played in 179 consecutive games, but the could be sidelined after sustaining a lower-body injury in the third period in St. Louis. With Goligoski out, top defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was forced to play 28:27.
The Jets might have an additional advantage, as if they needed one. A large contingent of fans from Manitoba followed them to the American southwest desert to watch them play the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday and the Coyotes on Saturday, in addition to numerous transplanted Canadians in the Phoenix area who might show up.
"The first time it happened to us was in Arizona," coach Paul Maurice said. "I think we had more fans in the building than they did."
Then again, Arizona hasn't had much of a home-ice advantage yet, going 1-5-1.
