Coyotes take care of business vs. Oilers for 3rd straight win
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- That the Coyotes cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night at Gila River Arena should come as no surprise.
The Coyotes were 5-0-0 against the Oilers a year ago and have now come away with at least one point in 19 consecutive games vs. Edmonton (16 wins and three overtime/shootout losses). They are 21-2-3 vs. the Oilers in Dave Tippett's tenure as a head coach. ANd without rookie phenom Connor McDavid in the lineup, the challenge was that much greater for Edmonton.
That's all well and good, but the games are still won on the ice, and the Coyotes did nearly everything they needed to do on Thursday night to win a hockey game.
Mike Smith was stellar in goal. Max Domi contributed another goal and assist. Veterans Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Shane Doan found the net, and even deep reserves and infrequent contributors Stefan Elliott and John Scott got their first points of the year.
About the only thing Tippett had to complain about was another slow start for the Coyotes, who found themselves behind less than four minutes into the game.
It was the fourth consecutive game that the Coyotes found themselves playing from behind -- but as in this week's road sweep of Anaheim and Los Angeles, they steadied the ship and came out on the winning end.
The Coyotes' third consecutive win left them at 9-6-1 and momentarily in first place in the Pacific Division, at least until the Los Angeles Kings (10-6-0) defeated the New York Islanders later in the night.
"I didn't like our start, the first two or three shifts weren't very good," Tippett said. "I think that first goal sort of snapped us to attention. The rest of the game we were pretty disciplined. We did what we had to do; we capitalized on our chances. It was just a good, solid team win."
Smith was impenetrable after Taylor Hall scored on a nicely executed give-and-go with Leon Draisaitl that got the best of defenseman Michael Stone just 3:03 into the game. He stopped 27 shots to follow up on a strong effort in Tuesday's victory at Los Angeles.
"Tonight after we got the lead, it was probably the best we've managed the puck all season," Smith said. "We didn't stop playing, we didn't stop forechecking, we took care of the puck really well. We got the third one, we got the fourth one, and that just puts teams away. I think we've done a lot of learning over the past month, and the last three games have shown the growth of the team."
Ekman-Larsson, using a perfect screen from Brad Richardson, tied it up at the 16:49 mark with his first goal since opening night.
Domi, continuing to stake his early season claim on Rookie of the Year honors, made a beautiful cross-crease feed to set up Doan for the go-ahead power-play goal at 13:47 in the second. It was Doan's fourth goal of the season and third on the power play, giving him 116 power-play goals for his career -- six short of Dale Hawerchuk's franchise record.
The Coyotes had entered the game tied for 28th in the league on the power play at 11.5 percent (7 for 61). They were 1 of 3 on Thursday, while their penalty-kill units were perfect in four opportunities.
After Doan's go-ahead goal, defenseman Elliott scored his first goal in six games as a Coyote, with assists from fourth-line forwards Scott and Kyle Chipchura. He was camped out in front of the net when he backhanded a shot into the net.
Domi finished off the scoring in the third period, batting in a puck from in front of the goal that he and Richardson both took a whack at. It was Domi's eight goal of the season, most among all rookies, and upped his point total to 15.
"I thought everybody chipped in tonight," Tippett said. "There's still some soft spots that you see, but we've got enough players picking up when there's a mistake and taking care of the little things. The thing I like about them right now on the bench is the guys are pushing each other to do the right things
"The little details that need to be done if you're going to be a good team , our team is working hard to try to do those."
