Stars earn an encore; Coyotes fall 3-1 in Dallas

Arizona Coyotes choke on a two period lead in 3-1 loss against Dallas Stars

Well, here we are.

Live Feed

Puck Prose

I actually got to watch this disastrous third period collapse first hand; along with a high school friend and a couple of surrounding season ticket holders, I sat in the front row — ice level — directly to the left of Mike Smith in the first and third periods.

It wasn’t pretty.

The first period saw the Arizona Coyotes come out as the clear leaders; although both teams ended the first twenty minutes with nine shots on goal apiece, the Coyotes were well-deserving of their 1-0 lead. The Stars weren’t holding on to the puck (particularly Tyler Seguin, who contributed a large chunk of turnovers throughout the game by himself), they weren’t taking good enough shots against starter Mike Smith, and they weren’t catching rebounds. The game seemed to be going exactly as the Coyotes fans wanted it to.

Sitting directly in front of me was a yearly Dallas Stars season ticket holder who used to play ice hockey in high school; his only comments on the first two periods were ‘the Coyotes may not be playing like the Chicago Blackhawks, but they look a hell of a lot better than the Dallas Stars right about now. It looks like they’re determined to never win on home ice”.

He was right. Forget the first two periods — the Stars saw sixteen giveaways on the game, while the Coyotes only saw seven. Puck possession was in the Coyotes’ favor for the majority of the game, and Mike Smith was getting the job done.

Nov 20, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Stars center Cody Eakin (20) shoots the puck on Arizona Coyotes goalie Mike Smith (41) during the second period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Then, the third period came around.

The Stars scored on the Coyotes twice in the first minute of the final period; this one goal lead showed how completely the Coyotes had shut down by the final period of the game.

Dallas didn’t necessarily improve their play in the final twenty minutes, although the shots that blew past Smith were decidedly quality (if defended rather questionably). What did change, though, was the effort put in by the Coyotes — all semblance of defense went out the window, and the final twenty minutes looked more like a painful, never-ending power play against the desert dogs than a full period of even strength play.

The result? Three uncontested goals by Dallas, to shift a 1-0 game to a 3-1 game in the favor of the formerly losing team.

Doggie Biscuits:

• The Stars got a first NHL career goal out of John Klingberg to start off scoring for this Central Division team; it looks like the Coyotes are willing to give landmark goals to pretty much every Stars player who hasn’t managed to score yet this season.
• For two teams who started off their last season-series contest with an almost immediate drop of the gloves, this was one of the lowest-penalty-awarding games yet this season… for both franchises. Neither team managed to notch more than four PIM on the whole game, with the final period displaying a penalty-less twenty minutes for both franchises. The one player who did end up in the box for Arizona, though? David Schlemko. Twice.
• Although Mike Smith is ultimately credited with three goals against for this particular game, a lot of the problems in the third period weren’t just him — they fall on the defense, as well. A lack of man-on-man coverage and an inability to clear the puck as effectively as they had in the first forty minutes didn’t put the Coyotes on the defensive for long — but when the Stars did have the upper hand, they made it count.
• There are a disproportionate number of people who show up to Dallas Stars games wearing Jonathan Toews jerseys, and an even larger number of fans who showed up in Bruins gear. Still wasn’t as weird as the one guy in a throwback Colorado Avalanche jersey (who left in the third period anyway), and the two Buffalo Sabres fans who were floating around. What?

The Coyotes take on the San Jose Sharks tomorrow, in San Jose. This game could go well for a number of reasons; the Coyotes are probably going to start Devan Dubnyk, they only have one in-Division loss, and the Sharks are struggling just as much as the Coyotes are. They lost in an overtime shootout to the Florida Panthers tonight, and are heading into a back-to-back game as well — if the Coyotes are going to nab a win, this is where they’ll do it.

*Bonus: there’s a meltdown video of me after the game, pulling a Steve Dangle over the Third Period Choke. It may or may not be put up on the site before the week is over.*

More from Howlin' Hockey

• How the Arizona Coyotes could line-up with Logan Cooley signed
• Report: Logan Cooley could be closer to signing Arizona Coyotes ELC
• Arizona Coyotes sign Matias Maccelli to three-year deal
• Ivan Prosvetov signs one-year deal with Arizona Coyotes
• Arizona Coyotes cut Galchenyuk after reported police incident