Coyotes come up short on Doan's record-tying night
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Shane Doan's second career hat trick was no ordinary hat trick.
The three goals he scored on Tuesday night against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks gave him 379 goals for his career, equaling Dale Hawerchuk's long-standing Arizona Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets franchise record.
But Doan's effort was without any of the pomp and circumstance the occasion otherwise might have warranted -- and without the spontaneous joy that accompanied his first hat trick of three seasons ago, the one that was 16 seasons and 1,161 games in the making.
Doan had the misfortune of accomplishing this feat on a night that the Blackhawks riddled Coyotes' goaltenders Anders Lindback and Louis Domingue with seven goals, sending the Coyotes' to a 7-5 defeat in front of a packed house at Gila River Arena.
"It would be a lot nicer if it would have tied the game instead of making it a two-goal game," Doan said of his third goal, which closed out the scoring with 27.1 seconds left. "You appreciate it, you're glad you did, but there's no joy scoring in a game like that."
Lindback and Domingue were no match for a shamed group of Blackhawks (21-13-4), who had been put through the rigors by coach Joel Quenneville after scoring a total of one goal in losing their previous two games.
Despite being outskated for much of the first period, Chicago entered the first break with a 3-2 lead on the strength of three power-play goals against Lindback. Lindback faced only five shots in the period, but three of them found the net.
Dave Tippett replaced Lindback with Louis Domingue in the second period, but he allowed a soft goal to Andrew Desjardins two minutes into the period, and then league scoring leader Patrick Kane, who assisted on two of the first-period goals, added his 22nd goal of the season at the 13:48 mark to make it 5-2.
The Coyotes (17-16-3), who entered the game with a four-game unbeaten streak, battled back to make a game of it 6-4 on third-period goals by Doan and Connor Murphy, but Jonathan Toews' empty-netter at the 18:21 mark ended any hope of a miracle comeback.
Though Tippett was not pleased with the outcome, he had high praise for Doan,the Coyotes' longtime captain.
"It shows the unbelievable sacrifice he makes and the leadership he shows that this game is out of hand and he's not going to quit," Tippett said. "That's a great lesson for our young guys in the lineup tonight."
Doan, who scored his first seven goals as a rookie for Winnipeg in 1996-97, the same season Hawerchuk was finishing his NHL career with the Philadelphia Flyers, said he was honored to have equaled the franchise record. Hawerchuk needed just 10 seasons with Winnipeg (1981-90) to score his 379 goals.
"I'm a big fan of his, it's special," Doan said. "I wish it had come on a different night."
Tippett had some harsh criticism for rookie forward Anthony Duclair for taking a hooking penalty 4:31 into the game, leading to Chicago's first goal. And he said Chicago's early goal in the second period to make it 4-2 was a difference maker.
"Duclair's penalty to start the game off was a very poor penalty, and he was just shown one that he took a couple games ago like that," Tippett said.
"The fourth goal, we felt like we're looking to change momentum, hopefully Louis can get in there and give us some saves; it didn't turn out that way. You're 3-2, you're looking to build on a decent first period other than our penalty kill and all of a sudden that one goes in. There's a big sag there."
Lindback had just two saves before being pulled for Domingue, who had 19 saves in his two periods.
"The goalie's job is to stop the puck," Tippett said. "Three on five shots -- maybe tactically he did everything right. We just need some more saves."
"Your goaltending is a big part of your penalty kill."
NOTES: Defensemen Zbynek Michalek and Oliver Ekman-Larsson both left the ice in the final minutes of the third period with unspecified injuries and did not return. ... Michalek and Connor Murphy both scored goals -- giving the Coyotes 25 goals by defensemen this season. ... Ekman-Larsson and Tobias Rieder each had three assists.
