Arizona Coyotes Fall 3-1 To Red Wings In Front Of A Sellout Crowd
Arizona Coyotes continue to improve against Detroit Red Wings
The Arizona Coyotes’ continued reliance on their power play bit them once again this Saturday as the team went 0-5 on the man advantage in their 3-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
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Seems bad — especially since it was in front of a sellout crowd at Gila River Arena.
Luckily, though, the team looked better than the final score indicated — as Petr Mrazek was inhumanly good, and robbed the team of more than a couple quality scoring chances. A normal goaltender would have easily finished that game with a different GAA.
“They are a good penalty killing team, but we had some good looks — but they either found ways to block it, or the goalie made the save,” Head Coach Dave Tippett said.
Despite the unlucky man advantage, though, the Coyotes did have a chance to tie the game on a Martin Erat penalty shot in the third period — only Erat couldn’t convert.
“I tried to move it more to my backhand and get it high but there wasn’t enough [room],” Erat Said.
Erat was set up to tie the score at one in third period, after the Wings opened the scoring with a power play goal off the stick of Riley Sheahan.
The Coyotes had a chance to clear the puck, but Antoine Vermette couldn’t make it happen — instead, the Wings stayed alive, and they capitalized on a quality shot.
“On the penalty kill, if you had asked me one player to clear the puck — it would be Vermette,” Tippett said.
Overall, the penalty kill did its job, though — considering the Coyotes were up against the league’s top ranked power play unit.
The Coyotes killed off five of the six Red Wings penalties, and that alone was a snapshot of how hard the Coyotes competed all night long — something players and coaches talked about quite a bit after the game.
“I think we played a hard game,” Antoine Vermette said. “It’s disappointing not leaving with points from this game but we showed character and kept going.”
Coach Tippett liked the effort as well, saying that the Coyotes needed a big effort to be competitive —
“We have to have that if we are going to be competitive,” Tippet said. “In a game like tonight, if we didn’t compete hard than we would have been really behind in that game.”
The Coyotes’ effort didn’t cease all night, even after the failed Erat penalty shot — but minutes later, Tomas Tatar extended the lead.
OEL tried to keep the puck in the offensive zone, but handed it over in what would result in a breakaway and a 2-0 Red Wings lead.
The Coyotes would answer back, however, with Oliver Ekman-Larsson himself — he scored his single season career high 16th goal to put the Coyotes back within one.
Oliver said it was hard to be happy about the goal, though, and instead focused on the teams effort —
“I thought we played good and everyone battled hard,” Ekman-Larsson said. “We have to keep playing that way to get better,”
The Red Wings’ victory improved their record against Western Conference opponents to 12-2-1 — while the Coyotes have now lost two straight games after finishing their lengthy road trip with back to back wins.
Mike Smith continued his strong play of late as well by stopping 24 of the 26 shots he faced in the loss. The Coyotes will now hit the road to try and redeem themselves in Chicago, after their tough 6-1 loss to the Blackhawks before the All-Star break.
Doggie Biscuits:
-OEL continues to lead the league in goals by a defenseman with 16.
-Keith Yandle extended his point streak to six games with his assist on the Ekman-Larsson goal. This streak is the longest for any Coyote this season.
And, because, why not……
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