Arizona Coyotes Get Buried By Avalanche

Arizona Coyotes D-man, Oliver Ekman-Larsson Scores Two Goals In Losing Cause

The Arizona Coyotes scored the first goal in this game, which is usually a good thing. The problem was, as the problem has been most of this subpar season, they couldn’t hold the lead… again. The Av’s Jerome Iginla and Ryan O’Reilly scored 29 seconds apart after Ekman-Larsson’s first goal early at the 3:24 mark of the first period.

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The Avalanche forged ahead 3-1 at 8:09 of the second period to take a two goal lead. Oliver Ekman-Larsson then became the NHL’s highest goal scoring defenseman when he netted his 19th goal at 11:53 of the final stanza to bring his team to within one goal. It earned him first star bragging rights for the game, but unfortunately his Arizona Coyotes lost for the 16th time in their last 17 games. During that span the Coyotes have only scored 22 goals. You are not going to win too many games with that meager offensive output.

When your defensemen are scoring more than your forwards, you know something isn’t right. When Keith Yandle led the team in scoring, I always wondered why the forwards on this team can’t step up and put some pucks in the net. I did a little checking, and P.K. Subban defenseman for the Montreal Canadians is second in scoring on his team, but trails left wing Max Pacioretty by ten points.

Some other NHL teams have defensemen who are in the top ten in scoring on their team, but not leading the pack, except for Erik Karlsson of the Senators who has 18 goals, 38 assists to lead his team. Now that Keith Yandle has been traded from the Arizona Coyotes to the N.Y. Rangers, Oliver Ekman-Larsson has taken over the top spot in scoring, with Sam Gagner one point back and Shane Doan three points behind.

Granted Ekman-Larsson plays a similar style to Yandle where he sneaks in from the blue line cheating defensively, to get in the offense, giving him scoring chances. But, unlike Yandle who had only 4 goals but 41 points before his departure, his goal production fell way shy of what OEL has accomplished. I’m not saying change his playing style, he is an offensive weapon on a team who lacks that attribute, and they need it to come from someone, why not him?

With the proposed elevation of Max Domi, and Anthony Duclair next season, the team should not need to rely on Ekman-Larsson’s offensive prowess as much. They should score way more goals with their new Dynamic Duo in the lineup. Add in the possibility of a Connor McDavid, or Jack Eichel, and the team’s offense gets the much needed goal scoring it so lacks this season, and it shows in the standings.

I feel for our captain Shane Doan, who has never kissed the Cup, and more than likely will miss out on that thrill. Recently he was interviewed about the team’s lack of success this season.

Via MayorsManor.com:

“Obviously, it’s kind of embarrassing. As a player, it’s always tough. You never want to be stuck in this situation, but we are and we have to deal with it. The new guys coming in, they’ve played well. We’ve been in games; we just haven’t found ways to win, and that’s the name of it. It’s just disappointing. You just feel bad, we’ve been bad. There’s no way to get around it. We’ve been bad and we have to be better.”

That says it all, and this team knows it can play better, and Doan being the leader he is,will do all in his power to make it happen.

Next: Oliver Ekman-Larsson Is An All Star, the Coyotes Are Not

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