Arizona Coyotes Shut Out By Ben Bishop, Lightning 2-0
The Arizona Coyotes were unable to solve Ben Bishop and fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.
2. 23. Final. 0. 121
On St. Patrick’s Day, the Arizona Coyotes had the “luck of the Irish” after being the beneficiaries of two overturned goals.
Saturday night Ben Bishop wasn’t interested in accommodating the Coyotes’ desires for victory.
The 29-year-old American goaltender saved all 32 shots he faced and was arguably the beneficiary of some luck of his own en route to shutting out the Yotes on their own ice.
Louis Domingue had 34 saves of his own, yet his lone miscue allowed Ondrej Palat to score a soft one from the perimeter.
Palat’s goal was the eventual game-winner.
Tampa Bay Lightning win 2-0 after Nikita Kucherov’s empty netter killed the Arizona Coyotes’ attempt at a comeback.
Arizona Coyotes Player of the Game
Louis Domingue saved 34 of 35 and had an altogether strong night, Palat goal nonwithstanding. However, Max Domi took the ice tonight like his skates, pants, and head were all on fire.
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The rookie finished the night with 8 shots on goal after skating just shy of 17 minutes of ice time. He had two golden chances where he was unable to get a handle on the puck to throw it at the net in time, and the game may have looked much different if he had been able to convert just one of those.
The View From The 200 Level
The Arizona Coyotes played a strong game against a very good Tampa Bay team. There’s not a whole lot to complain about from the team’s perspective.
If you had to pin the loss on one sequence, it would be the Coyotes’ failure to convert on back-to-back abbreviated 5-on-3 chances in the second period. Anytime you get an extended 5-on-3 opportunity and don’t find the net, it typically ends badly for the team that squandered the chance.
The Yotes played fairly strong in most other aspects.
They were creating chances at a decent clip which did not result in goals, but it’s hard to argue the offense didn’t look good tonight. They’ve often scored on guts or luck instead of glamour in 2015-16, yet there were a few pretty setups throughout this matchup.
Defensively the team avoided the constant breakdowns that have plagued their blue line, though Michael Stone and Nicklas Grossmann did have a particularly egregious one that was erased by Domingue.
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Losses are always bad, but this was an entertaining game and the team gave the hometown fans a hell of an effort.
If that’s the fate of the Arizona Coyotes across the next 11 games – great effort, so-so to bad results – I can live with that because there’s plenty to look forward to next season.
The Coyotes play the Sharks on Sunday night at 7:00 PM in the second game of their back-to-back. Mike Smith will be in net.