Arizona Coyotes Win Thriller Over Edmonton Oilers In OT, 4-3

Jan 12, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Coyotes center Max Domi (16) celebrates with defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (23) and left wing Anthony Duclair (10) after scoring a goal in the third period against the Edmonton Oilers at Gila River Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 12, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Coyotes center Max Domi (16) celebrates with defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (23) and left wing Anthony Duclair (10) after scoring a goal in the third period against the Edmonton Oilers at Gila River Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Arizona Coyotes faced the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night looking to continue their three game winning streak and further secure their grasp on a playoff spot in the Pacific Division.

The Arizona Coyotes are never out of it. Fans and opposing teams have learned that fact time and again this season.

Tuesday night, the Max Domi show rolled into Glendale and rocked the Edmonton Oilers after the Coyotes fell behind by two goals on two separate occasions.

The first period was a bloodless affair until Oilers center Leon Draisaitl scored at 18:43.

Coming out of the intermission, the Coyotes fared no better. After Klas Dahlbeck took a bad penalty, Justin Schultz scored on the power play. Edmonton led 2-0.

Five minutes later, Max Domi awoke from the goal-scoring slumber he’d been in since December 4th. Michael Stone‘s shot deflected right into Domi’s path with half of Anders Nilsson‘s net open. He didn’t miss. Edmonton still led 2-1 and carried that lead into the 3rd period.

Edmonton came right back early in the 3rd. Dahlbeck took another penalty and this time Benoit Pouliot was able to score just seconds into the power play opportunity for the Oilers. 3-1 Edmonton.

On a power play opportunity just minutes later, Oliver Ekman-Larsson put the moves on Schultz and nearly got the puck by Nilsson. There was a mad scramble in the blue paint where Anthony Duclair was denied before Max Domi slammed the puck home. 3-2 Edmonton.

He wasn’t done. Oh, no.

Three minutes later, Domi took a pass from Boedker on another power play and ripped it home past Nilsson for the hat trick.

The game remained tied into overtime, where a missed offside call nearly allowed the Oilers to score until the heroics of Louis Domingue bailed the team out. A late high sticking penalty taken by Taylor Hall gave the Arizona Coyotes 29.7 seconds of 4-on-3 powerplay to work with before overtime expired.

From there, OEL did what OEL does best. Score game winners. This time he found the net with just nine seconds left in overtime.

Arizona Coyotes win 4-3!

Player Performances

Louis Domingue had what is probably easily his worst night thus far as a starter for the Arizona Coyotes. He was tentative handling the puck after some miscues, and ultimately seemed pretty unsure of himself for around the first forty-five minutes he was on the ice. And then he snapped back into the Louis we’ve seen for a few weeks, made some crucial saves to keep the team in the game, and ultimately saved their bacon on a very long shift during the overtime period.

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Oliver Ekman-Larsson had a three point night going and no one even noticed until he scored the game-winning goal. It was the first four point night of his career, and a pretty emphatic statement from the Coyotes’ superstar on a night when observers would be remiss if they didn’t say they saw another superstar beginning to rise.

After Shane Doan aged a full year on his extra long shift during 3-on-3 OT, Dave Tippett said he quipped to the captain as he came off the ice “How do you like 3 on 3?”

It seemed like a fun night for every Arizona Coyotes player except for Klas Dahlbeck. Not his best looking effort, to be sure.

Arizona Coyotes Player of the Game

No goals since December 4th. A dry spell that stretched beyond a month was surely weighing on Max Domi, but he uncorked all that pent up frustration in one night against Edmonton. He now has 13 goals on the season and 31 points in just 42 games. Not too bad for the rookie.

The View From The 200 Level

The Arizona Coyotes came out as flat as flat can be tonight. They had no jump. They couldn’t generate pressure and could barely manage a shot on net.

As head coach Dave Tippett said in his post game presser, there was a lot of one-and-done’s when they managed to get the puck into the offensive zone.

Then Max Domi happened.

He roused the crowd and the team from it’s slumber with the first goal. He sparked them into a frenzy with the second. From there, tying the game and Domi’s hat trick both seemed inevitable.

Three minutes later he delivered again on all that promise Coyotes’ fans have been anticipating since he was drafted in 2013. The roof flew off the building, and from there the Oilers had been vanquished in every way but on the scoreboard.

That part was a mere formality.

Normally I’d get on my box and talk about how the Arizona Coyotes need to overcome their poor starts. There’d be something about how they can’t expect to continue coming back from these early deficits.

Next: The 10 Best Goals From The Coyotes Season So Far

Not tonight.

Tonight was glorious. It was a hell of a game. It was fun just being a fan and enjoying the rollercoaster of emotions that came with 64:51 of Coyotes hockey.

We can talk about all that other stuff tomorrow. For now rejoice!

The Arizona Coyotes take the ice again on Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings.