Arizona Coyotes, Domingue Ineffective In 6-4 Loss To Blues

The Arizona Coyotes fell 6-4 to the St. Louis Blues in a game marred by goaltending issues for both teams.

The Arizona Coyotes couldn’t cap off their homestand with a victory. Early in the first period, Louis Domingue couldn’t stop a puck.

Despite Shane Doan putting the Coyotes up 1-0 just 23 seconds into the game, the Yotes trailed 4-1 a little over halfway through the first.

Domingue was pulled for the final nine minutes and change of the first period and newly recalled netminder Niklas Treutle got his first NHL minutes in net before Domingue resumed his spot in the second period.

Kevin Connauton scored in the second period and Max Domi scored in the third to cut the lead to 4-3.

Patrik Berglund got the Blues back on the board with their fifth goal.

Late in the third period with Domingue on the bench, Domi scored again to bring the Arizona Coyotes within one goal. Unfortunately, David Backes scored an empty-netter with 0.3 seconds left to seal the victory.

Blues win 6-4.

Player Performance

Oliver Ekman-Larsson was injured early in the first period and was held out of the rest of the game for precautionary measures. It appears he might be able to play on Monday against the Capitals. If the injury turns out more serious than they think, though…well, you know what that means.

More from Howlin' Hockey

Max Domi has awoken and scored two more goals in tonight’s losing effort. That puts him at 17 goals and 24 assists for 41 points through just 58 games. 40 points was the threshold I expected Domi to surpass to “live up to the hype” and now it looks like a sure bet he’ll flirt with 50. This kid is awesome.

Shane Doan‘s backhanded wrap-around to open the scoring was a thing of beauty.

Beyond those three, there’s not many Yotes who stand out too brightly. Louis Domingue will want to burn the tape of the second and third Blues’ goals after tonight and there wasn’t much going on in front of him that was positive either.

Arizona Coyotes Player of the Game

Kevin Connauton stepped into that OEL role and provided a decent alternative for one game at least. Connauton skated 31:11 and contributed one goal and two assists to the Arizona Coyotes’ offensive attack. He also filled in for Ekman-Larsson in another important spot; he led the team in shots on goal with six.

He was also the culprit on the fourth Blues goal. The puck deflected past Louis Domingue off of Connauton’s stick. Regardless, #44 had a very strong performance on short notice and certainly took a huge step towards separating himself from the rest of the left-handed defender pack behind OEL.

The View From The 200 Level

Goaltending on both sides of the ledger was absolutely atrocious on Saturday night.

Brian Elliott was actually worse than Louis Domingue but the team in front of him played much better so they could absorb the four goals he gave up in just 22 shots.

The Blues took the lead 2-1 just 4:22 into the first period and the Arizona Coyotes trailed by at least one goal (and often multiple goals) from there on out.

Even though the Yotes trailed for the majority of the game they mustered just 22 shots on the night. They couldn’t maintain possession and when they did the Blues did an amazing job clogging up lanes and negating shot attempts.

They mustered just five shots on net in the third period. Not a winning recipe whatsoever.

It is pretty amazing that the Coyotes managed the four goals they did despite the anemic attack. They also had a slight edge in scoring chances.

Provided OEL is genuinely okay and Domingue can play more like he did in the final two periods instead of the first period, the Coyotes can continue to hang in the race.

Next: Is OEL The Next Captain Of the Coyotes?

If either of those options don’t come to pass? Things could get mighty ugly.

After tonight Arizona is five back of Nashville for the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference.

The Arizona Coyotes square off against the Washington Capitals in DC on Monday night.

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