Louis Domingue’s First NHL Win
Louis Domingue recorded his first NHL career win
Louis Domingue’s first career NHL game saw him allow two quick goals by the same player.
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He then made eighteen consecutive saves en route to a 3-2 victory in that very same game, finding him with a .900 SV% and maintaining his 2.00 GAA to start off his NHL career.
Of course, the win was that much sweeter because it was against the fourth-seeded Montreal Canadiens, in his home province of Quebec, with his family in the stands.
That’s pretty sweet.
The game started out with all the odds against the Coyotes, as Alex Galchenyuk netted two consecutive goals in the first five minutes of the game to put the Canadiens up 2-0 heading into the second.
The game shifted in the direction of the Coyotes, though, right before the two teams broke for the second intermission — Lauri Korpikoski scored at the 17:43 mark, tipping the puck in on the power play in his first of two goals Sunday afternoon.
(Yes, Coyotes fans, you read that correctly. Lauri Korpikoski scored two goals on Sunday afternoon.)
Oliver Ekman-Larsson netted another goal of his own, and the team held on to a 3-2 lead for the final sixteen minutes of the game to take home their second victory of the week.
Team Improvements:
1. Goaltending.
After the Coyotes fell 7-2 against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night, head coach Dave Tippett said that it’s hard to take home a win when the goaltending is poor — then all but implied that goaltender Mike Smith didn’t get the job done.
Rookie Louis Domingue took those words to heart, though, and held down the fort — even after Galchenyuk snuck two past him early on. The team improved with every passing minute that he didn’t collapse, showing how much of an effect on the game a little bit of consistency in net and collectivity from the youngest player on the ice can have on the team as a whole.
2. Shots on Goal
Although the Coyotes are now operating with one of the lowest shooting percentages probably on the entire planet, they’re at least taking shots on goal — and it’s hard to fault a team a loss or two when they’ve outshot their last three opponents.
The Arizona Coyotes have now outshot the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa Senators, and the Montreal Canadiens — and although the team allowed seven goals against during the game in Ottawa, they’ve now scored eight goals in their last three games combined. For a team struggling to score at all in some games earlier this season, that’s a tangible improvement.
3. Defense
Although the Coyotes used to be one of the best teams in the league defensively, the very young blue line corps have had some trouble this season living up to those standards.
This game, though, the team blocked twenty shots to Montreal’s fourteen blocks — showing that not only did they have the stronger offense, they actually had the stronger defense, too. Playing a good defensive game in front of a young goaltender can make all the difference in the world, and it showed.
The Coyotes finally get a brief vacation (meaning they aren’t playing again tomorrow) before heading to Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday. Make it through that game, and the rough road trip will finally be over — the Coyotes host the Carolina Hurricanes in the second game of this year’s season-series on Thursday.
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