Arizona Coyotes Snap Losing Streak On Throwback Night

By Richard Flores | Mar 6, 2015

Come on everybody and lets party like its 1996, the Arizona Coyotes did so as they threw it back to 1996 wearing their old black Kachina style jerseys on their way to a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory.

“Winning is fun,” Head Coach Dave Tippet said after the game that snapped a ten game losing streak overall and a nine game streak at home.

The Coyotes looked good all night long holding a 1-0 lead for much of the game until the third period when BJ Crombeen’s skate knocked in the puck for a 2-0 lead.

But it was hard work on the penalty kill in the first period that really gave the Coyotes some confidence for the rest of the game as forward Tobias Rieder scored his second goal in as many games to put the coyotes on the board late in the first just 45 seconds after the Coyotes killed off a too many on the ice penalty, which accounted for two of the six minutes the coyotes spent on the kill in the first twenty.

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“The guys were tremendous in front of me blocking shots and we’ve worked hard to get it better and tonight it showed,” goalie Mike Smith said

In the end Arizona was a perfect 4-4 on the penalty kill against the 15th best power play in the league.

The game wasn’t without its drama though as former Coyote Radim Vrbata returned to Arizona for the first time since leaving the team in the off-season to a standing ovation from fans during one of the TV timeouts scored the game tying goal with less than a minute to go in regulation.

The game couldn’t finish in overtime but it wasn’t for lack of trying as several Canucks turnovers led to point blank scoring chances from Tobias Rieder and Shane Doan on breakaways which neither was able to finish.

“Holy man, I don’t know when its going to go in but hopefully soon,” Doan said. “I had more than my ample share tonight”

Doan even missed in the shootout but knows this was a big win for the team.

“It was big to find a way to win a game at home,” Doan said. “It was a big game for us as a group”

In the shootout it was Sam Gagner who got the game winner on a ripper past Canucks starter Eddir Lack but it was Radim Vrbata who made the most interesting move as he went away from his patened forehand-backhand-shelf move that became so unbeatable while he wore a Coyotes sweater.

” I was just hoping he wasn’t going to embarrass me too bad,” Smith said. “I was trying not to think what he had done in the past on me in practice and play it like any other shooter.”

As far a finally get a win Smith thought it was nice for the team to get a monkey off its back.

“Its a release, its been a long time coming but we did a lot of good things tonight,” Smith said.

Next up the Arizona Coyotes will look to replicate their Super Bowl Sunday success against the Canadiens when they make their way into town on Saturday.

Next: Coyotes Taking Risks

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