Arizona Coyotes: Domingue, Special Teams Falter In Poor Effort
It was a rough night for the Arizona Coyotes. Goaltending was suspect and special teams were even worse. A reboot is needed prior to Thursday night’s matchup with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Arizona Coyotes goaltender Louis Domingue had two simple messages after he allowed five goals and was pulled in the Coyotes 6-2 loss last night.
The first was about adversity. Domingue sounded defiant when asked how he’d bounce back from his first two bad games since his recall from Springfield.
“It’s not the first time I’ve faced adversity in my career,” Domingue said. “I just have to regroup right away and move on.”
The second was that he took the loss squarely on his own shoulders. “I just think it’s on me tonight,” Domingue said. “If I make more saves, then we have a chance to win. That’s how I see it.”
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There’s no doubt that if Louis had made more saves the team would’ve had a better chance to win, but the blame for Tuesday night’s debacle can be spread wholesale throughout the lineup and behind the bench.
While head coach Dave Tippett is undoubtedly one of the brightest minds in the NHL, he has thus far struggled to get consistency out of his lineup in the first twenty minutes of games. They often come out flat, and last night’s game was no different.
It was only via a fluke goal scored by Jordan Martinook and some great saves by Domingue that the Arizona Coyotes broadcast had anything positive to talk about after one period.
From there, the blame game can shift to undisciplined play and a penalty kill unit that has fallen from 11th in the league at one point to 28th in the NHL at 75.9%.
The 27th ranked unit in Winnipeg is more than a full percentage point above the Yotes. That’s how poorly the PK has played of late.
That unit allowed three goals on seven power play opportunities for the Kings.
After the game, Dave Tippett implied that the first two power play goals allowed were fully on Louis Domingue. However, I present to you the above picture for you to peruse and see if you can notice who else has not been doing their job while shorthanded. The video tells the same tale.
There’s Jeff Carter standing all alone in front of the Arizona Coyotes goaltender. There’s Nicklas Grossmann, the Coyotes’ hired muscle, several feet away from him and allowing his goaltender to be screened by the 6’4 Kings center. Not pictured but present in the video is Michael Stone, totally unaware of Carter behind him.
There is no doubt whatsoever that Domingue must improve his play on the penalty kill. His PK save percentage is atrocious, however the play in front of him (or whoever is in net) has been arguably worse.
The team struggles to clear the puck and clear the crease and this is hardly a recent trend. It’s just that recently it’s gotten much worse.
Finally, the other big culprit behind a lack of momentum and missed opportunity was the Coyotes’ power play. Five times they had the man advantage. Several times they gave it away with undisciplined penalties that cut short their advantage.
Beyond the silly penalties, they simply failed to put the puck in the net.
When you are a team giving up goals regularly on your penalty kill, you not only have to stay out of the box, you also have to have to score on the opportunities that you get to even things out.
Last night the Arizona Coyotes failed in virtually every facet of the hockey game.
Domingue is owning his end of the bargain. It’s time for the rest of the Yotes to do the same and come out firing on Thursday night.
About Last Night
Arizona Coyotes Shelled By LA Kings 6-2 [Howlin’ Hockey]
Coyotes routed by Kings in first game after All-Star break [AZCentral – Sarah McLellan]
"“I thought four of the six goals were stoppable goals, so it’s good to see (Domingue) take responsibility for them,” Tippett said. “He’s gotta clean up some of his stuff, but there’s a lot of messes in front of him that gotta get cleaned up also.”"
Coyotes Talk
Assistant GM Darcy Regier leaving Arizona Coyotes for personal reasons [AZCentral – Sarah McLellan]
Coyotes’ Domingue Facing First Adversity of Season [Today’s Slapshot – Carolyn Wilke]
"He has allowed 10 goals on the last 50 shots he has faced, he has allowed goals from the center line in back-to-back losses and the Coyotes find themselves out of playoff position as they begin what Tippett has called the stretch drive of the season."
AHL All-Star Dustin Jeffrey making impact in NHL and AHL [Along The Boards – Logan Mullen]
Column: Coyotes’ Tippett Should Be in Jack Adams Discussion [Today’s Slapshot – Craig Morgan]
Around The NHL
Connor McDavid scores goal of year candidate, 3 points in return [Puck Daddy – Greg Wyshynski]
"The rookie split the Blue Jackets’ defense during an end-to-end rush. Justin Falk tried to take the puck away from McDavid, but whiffed. Jack Johnson appeared to be escorting him to the crease like a proper gentleman. McDavid shredded them, and then scored a nifty goal to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead."
Crosby scores natural hat trick in win over Senators [Sportsnet.ca/Associated Press]
Jury sides with Semyon Varlamov in civil case, awards Avs goalie $126K [ESPN.com/Associated Press]