The Arizona Coyotes were kept off the scoreboard for most of the game by Chad Johnson and the Buffalo Sabres. Jack Eichel and Jamie McGinn scored for Buffalo on the power play, furthering the pitiful performance that the Coyotes penalty killing unit has produced in recent contests.
The Arizona Coyotes fell out of second place in the Pacific Division on Monday night.
Just like that, the team goes from a seven game point streak to a three game losing streak. From Max Domi scoring a hat trick last Tuesday, to the Coyotes being held scoreless for 131:22 consecutive minutes.
The largest portion of the blame can again be placed on the Arizona Coyotes’ special teams units.
Both the power play (0 for 10 in the last two games) and penalty kill (has given up goals on 6 of the last 11 penalties taken in the past four games) are torpedoing the team’s playoff dreams right now.
Jack Eichel sniped a beauty past Louis Domingue on a power play in the second period, and Jamie McGinn followed with another power play goal in the same frame.
Antoine Vermette got one back for the Coyotes in the third period after a nice pass from Shane Doan but it wasn’t enough.
Chad Johnson held on the rest of the way to secure the victory for the Sabres.
There was quite the fracas after the regulation whistle, and somehow Anthony Duclair bore the brunt of Zach Bogosian‘s anger for whatever words were exchanged between the two of them.
Shane Doan attempted to get involved on Duclair’s behalf (who was not even putting up a fight), and then did eventually get involved after Rasmus Ristolainen popped Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the face. Tons of penalties were doled out and I’m assuming there could possibly be suspensions levied.
Despite the ruckus, Buffalo wins 2-1.
Player Performance
RIP Zbynek Michalek‘s face. Dude is tough. It’s not been the best year for #4, but you can’t take his heart away from him.
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Mikkel Boedker had all the fancy moves in the world cutting to the net tonight, but couldn’t get the puck to go in. It’s been 10 games since Boeds last scored. Perhaps he’s due soon.
Antoine Vermette was doing Vermette-y things all night long. Blind passing, giveaways, you name it. He’s the king of thoughtless play for the Arizona Coyotes right now. And then somehow he scores a goal on Chad Johnson from a bad angle. Hockey. Go figure.
Connor Murphy‘s second period penalty was bad. Really bad. His aggression has been a nice complement to Oliver Ekman-Larsson on that top pairing. This time, though, his aggressiveness cost his team a goal.
I thought Kevin Connauton looked good out there again tonight. The team definitely feels more secure in it’s own zone with him on the ice versus Stefan Elliott. With all that said, I would like to see Jarred Tinordi get a chance. Part of the reason he is here is because he was greatly mishandled in Montreal. It’d be a shame to see that happen here too.
Arizona Coyotes Player of the Game
Louis Domingue was solid in net once again for the Coyotes and should’ve earned the win. Unfortunately the Coyotes couldn’t find the net and the penalty kill is…well. Domingue gave up the two goals on the PK (as seems to be the norm, lately) and was perfect at even strength.
One has to wonder whether the penalty kill issues stem from a systemic flaw, a severe run of bad luck, or just subpar performance on the penalty kill from Domingue himself. The PK has been on a noticeable downturn after starting out strong in the first 10-20 games, however the sharpest nose dive has seemed to come with Mike Smith out. It’s likely a healthy mixture of the latter two options, but it’s definitely concerning.
I think it’s fair to place some blame on Domingue despite how great he’s been otherwise. I’m sure it’s an area he himself would admit to needing to shore up.
The View From The 200 Level
The losses against Detroit and New Jersey could be explained away. The Arizona Coyotes had dominated both of those games for the majority of the run of play.
Tonight? Tonight was one of the worst efforts the Coyotes have put forth in some time.
Whether it was playing down to the level of their opponents or just a simple byproduct of Cory Schneider still being in their heads, the boys were unable to find the back of the net once again and that wasn’t even the most concerning problem.
What will it take to fix the Coyotes’ special team woes, particularly on the penalty kill?
As someone aptly tweeted after the game, the Coyotes can’t take all these bad penalties when they don’t have the penalty kill performing at an acceptable level. It’s a recipe for disaster, and that recipe has cooked up two of their three straight losses.
The power play is another story, getting five opportunities against the New Jersey Devils and five more against the Buffalo Sabres and scoring a grand total of zero goals in those ten chances. Prior to that dry spell, the power play had been on fire.
Next: Coyotes Player Grades For Week 15
All of this could be the natural ebb and flow of the game of hockey. It’s a streaky game and an 82 game season is chock full of good runs and bad runs on the penalty kill, the power play, in goaltending, and everything in between.
It could also be the underlying stats finally biting back on the Arizona Coyotes a little bit, as the team has no doubt played above it’s head for the majority of this season.
Hopefully Dave Tippett can get something cooked up by the time the Coyotes face-off against the Sharks. Those Sharks just passed the Coyotes for second in the division despite being four points back just a few days ago.
The Coyotes face San Jose on Thursday night at Gila River Arena.