Boedker's hat trick helps snap Coyotes' losing streak
OTTAWA, Ontario -- Mikkel Boedker was happier to see the Arizona Coyotes snap their losing streak than score a hat trick.
Boedker scored three goals and the Coyotes beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Saturday night to end the skid at four games.
"That was real important, especially on a longer road trip," Boedker said. "We still have two more games on this road trip so I think that was real important for us as a group to show that we can win on the road and we can win tight games and that feels really good."
Brad Richardson also scored, and Anders Lindback made 35 saves in his first start of the season to help Arizona improve to 4-3-1.
Cody Ceci scored for Ottawa, and Craig Anderson stopped 22 shots. The Senators are 3-3-2 and have lost four straight at home (0-2-2) for the first time since 2006-07.
"It wears on you. Fans come and they pay their money and they want to see wins and not 4-1 losses," forward Bobby Ryan said. "You can't stay in the hunt losing points at home, especially when you're on a homestand and you haven't found a way to get anything out of it."
Senators coach Dave Cameron is at a loss to explain what ails his team.
"As a coach you look for indicators," Cameron said. "You look for the practice, you look for how they're carrying themselves, you look for how they are at the meetings when you're preparing them, for signs that they're not into it. I didn't see any of that."
Richardson broke a 1-1 tie with 5:29 left when he dove for the puck and was able to get it behind Anderson. Boedker made it 3-1 with 4:11 to go and completed the hat trick with an empty-netter with 2:01 remaining.
Boedker opened the scoring with just over a minute left in the first period, slipping behind Erik Karlsson and beating Anderson to the glove side.
Ceci tied it late in the second, taking a pass from Ryan and beating Lindback to the short side.
The Senators played the final two periods without Curtis Lazar. Lazar went-face first into the corner boards on a hit from Zbynek Michalek in the first period. Lazar took a few more shifts, but didn't come out for the remainder of the game.
NOTES: Max McCormick made his NHL debut for the Senators after being called up to replace Mike Hoffman, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. D Marc Methot was a late scratch despite saying he would play in the morning. LW Clarke MacArthur didn't play because of a concussion. ... The Coyotes were without C Antoine Vermette (upper-body).
