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Arizona Coyotes vs Florida Panthers final score 2-1: The Coyotes Triumph Once More In OT

By Catherine Silverman

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What a way to show the hometown crowd some love!

The Arizona Coyotes have improved their record to a fairly respectable 3-3-1, picking up steam as they move into the season with a 2-1 victory in overtime over the Atlantic Division Florida Panthers.

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    • The team ultimately outshot the Panthers with a remarkable 41-24 totals shots taken per team, but Coyotes fans shouldn’t credit the win to a lucky Oliver Ekman-Larsson (who netted the game-winning overtime goal) over a remarkable Mike Smith.

    Smith started out the season on some pretty bad footing, losing the team’s first game 6-2 with a couple gimme shots on net and having an even shakier performance against the St. Louis Blues the following Saturday in a memorable 6-1 loss. He withstood a total of 18 shots in the first two periods without allowing a single one past, though, only permitting a goal by the Florida franchise at the 1:47 mark to start off the third period.

    The highlight of the entire game, though, wasn’t Smith’s goaltending- it was Justin Hodgman.

    The team’s rookie bounced around North America and the KHL for quite a few years before being signed as a free agent on July 1st by the Coyotes. He made the squad initially out of training camp, leading the team in points with a goal and four assists in the pre-season, but was ultimately sent down to play in Portland early on in the season.

    He got his chance to come back to Glendale in time for Saturday night’s game, though, when it was announced that both forwards Martin Hanzal and David Moss would be out with day-to-day injuries.

    In his first game- not only with the Coyotes, but in the NHL- Hodgman managed to score his first goal, putting the Coyotes on the board to tie up the score at 1-1 midway through the third period. Just check out this sick goal:

    After being announced the team’s third star of the game, Hodgman mentioned that he jumped against the glass to celebrate with his excited fans. “I saw them pounding the glass, didn’t know how to celebrate, thought I’d go say hi”.

    I love him. Needless to say, the Coyotes can’t wait to see more out of this guy.

    In addition to Hodgman’s first goal of the season, Sam Gagner finally put himself on the board, notching his first season point with an assist on Oliver Ekman-Larsson‘s game winning goal on the overtime power-play. The team earned the extra man on the ice when Aleksander Barkov got called for high-sticking, popping Captain Coyote himself in the face with his stick to start off the extra five minutes. This would be OEL’s second game-winning goal- and both were scored on the overtime power play. Looks like the Coyotes know how to use those special teams after all.

    The team will play next against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, Oct. 28th, as the team travels to Florida.

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