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Family Affair: Arizona Coyotes Drop 7-2 Loss To Ottawa

By Catherine Silverman

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The Mike Smith era for the Arizona Coyotes might be over

The Arizona Coyotes put up an embarrassing display of incompetency — at least, for the five and a half minutes in which Mike Smith allowed four goals.

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    • The Coyotes got a chance to see some of the team’s up-and-comers, though — so the game wasn’t a total wash.

    For starters, Louis Domingue got his first taste of NHL action, allowing two goals in the final seventeen minutes of the game when he was put in to replace Smith. He was recalled from the Portland Pirates this morning, swapping places with Mike McKenna for what many assume will be a long-term look at the 22-year-old netminder. He made a couple nice saves, and showed plenty of poise for a young goaltender thrust into the game for his first time up against a formidably bad score.

    The team also outshot the Senators 37-31 — and while a 7-2 final score that so vastly contradicts the shot count is a problem in itself, the team has managed to fix their problem of lackluster offense. At the very least, the problems are being addressed one by one.

    This game shouldn’t be one the team looks at with pride — but if the Coyotes can see more poise out of Domingue (and continued on-ice improvement from the team’s youngest players), the future could look brighter than many think.

    There have been quite a few games this season where fans were alarmed at how badly the Coyotes managed to keep up possession-wise, but the numbers from this game actually told a tale of fairly even possession stats. With sixteen blocked shots per team, the Coyotes weren’t struggling to keep up as they normally do.

    Coyotes Three Stars

    1. Shane Doan: 5 SOG, 2 Hits

    2. Louis Domingue: 2GA, .818 SV%, one save on a short-handed shot attempt

    3. Sam Gagner: 1G, 56% faceoff wins

    Things to work on:

    The Coyotes did manage to take more shots on goal than they have most games this season, but it’s hard to ignore the problems still apparent in the game.

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    • For starters, the team took far too many penalties. The Coyotes ran the gambit of two-minute minors and other little incidentals, covering everything from delay of game penalties to too many men on the ice. Unforced errors are stupid moves, and the Coyotes failed to acknowledge that.

    The Coyotes also allowed far too many shots on Mike Smith; with even Mika Zibanejad managing to skate past the Coyotes and net a goal in the final minutes of the game, the team needs to ensure that doesn’t happen anymore.

    Finally, Louis Domingue did a good job — but he didn’t have a perfect game, and his giveaway almost led to a second Mark Stone goal. With Michael Stone the only one of four brothers on the ice together Saturday afternoon, the game was more than unacceptable in certain areas. Keith Yandle alone recorded two giveaways, and Tobias Rieder failed to find the back of the net on six recorded shots on goal. These are the little things that stand between a win and a loss, and although the team managed to net two goals and overcome a last-minute scratch of Martin Hanzal, points aren’t awarded for improvements over even worse performances. The team still has a long way to go before they hit a decent level of competitiveness once more.

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