Who Plays Sixty Minutes of Hockey? Coyotes fall 4-3 in OT

Bad luck, stuck sticks, and a non existent forecheck in the last 45 minutes.

These are just a few of the things that doomed the Arizona Coyotes in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche at home… in the final game for both teams prior to the Thanksgiving break.

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The Coyotes jumped out quickly early on, with three first period goals and a bunch of offensive zone time. They got a goal from Antoine Vermette — thanks to a beautiful deflection off a Michael Stone point shot — then Stone didn’t need Vermette on the second goal, as he scored from the blueline on his own. Tobias “speeder” Rieder scored the final goal of the night for the Coyotes, thanks to (what else) his speed.

The 3-0 lead after one seemingly would have put the Coyotes in the driver’s seat… but unfortunately, the Avs ate their orange slices in between periods.

“We had a good handle on the game after the first period and let it get away,” Defenseman Michal Stone said.

And let it get away they did. The Coyotes went 12 minutes in between shots at one point in the second period, while letting Gabriel Landeskog get the Avalanche on the board in the interim.

"“I knew if we got one, then you chip away and you get a second one then all of a sudden they tighten up and thats what happens,” Landeskog said."

Even with the bounceback second period from Colorado, the Coyotes still held a two goal lead headed into the final twenty.

Prior to Tuesday, the Coyotes were 4-1 in games where they held the lead after two… but that trend didn’t continue as the Avalanche answered pretty early into the third, thanks to a stuck Mike Smith goalie stick in his own net and a rebound that Landeskog was able to pick up and bury.

“The First two [goals] were poor coverage  on our part,” head coach Dave Tippett said. “The first one of the third period was really poor coverage. One guy skates in between two of ours and gets the rebound. I’m not sure how Smitty’s stick got caught in the back of the net.”

The Coyotes’ nightmare wasn’t quite over, either, as Matt Duchene was able to catch a break on an odd bounce off of Lauri Korpikoski’s stick that snuck past Smitty on his glove side to tie the game — and essentially send it to overtime.

The Coyotes weren’t without their third period chances, but backup goalie Calvin Pickard was able to make the saves he needed to to keep the score tied.

““He made some big saves for us, he kept us in the game,” Daniel Briere said.”

The Coyotes’ bad luck continued in the overtime; the game winner got credited to Daniel Briere, but it was Martin Hanzal who effectively scored the goal. The Coyotes lost a battle in deep in their own zone, and when Briere came away with the puck, he threw it toward the slot — where it went off the stick of Hanzal and in to give the Avalanche the 4-3 victory.

“It doesnt feel good  leaving points out there,” Michael Stone said. “It doesnt feel good going into the third period and blowing leads.”

With the loss, Mike Smith’s is now winless in his last seven starts, with a record of 0-5-2 over that span.

“He [Smith] made a couple good saves for us and then there were times when he looked eratic,” Tippet said.

Even with Mike Smith’s play being better of late, you now have to wonder if the better option is Dubnyk at this point — if for no other reason than that the team is getting wins with him in net.

Doggie biscuits:

Quote of the night:  “We were dominating in the first period and we just had to keep going the same way, but we started playing too much in our own zone and gave up too many chances”- Tobias Rieder

Tweet of the night: 

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