Arizona Coyotes Fall Apart Late, Lose 5-2 To Anaheim Ducks

The Arizona Coyotes allowed five goals for the fourth straight game in their loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.

The Arizona Coyotes were facing an early must-win scenario with playoff implications at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Yet again penalties cost them a game that they were in heading into the third period.

They got the start they wanted thanks to a nifty pass from captain Shane Doan.

After a lengthy board battle, the Ducks turned over the puck and Doan picked it up and fed a beauty to Tobias Rieder who made no mistake. 1-0 Coyotes.

The Arizona Coyotes penalty woes continued, however, and two consecutive penalties found them in a 5-on-3 situation.

Despite killing both penalties, the Ducks scored right as the final one expired when Hampus Lindholm beat Lindback. 1-1.

A little over a minute later, Anders Lindback hesitated while playing the puck and Mike Santorelli took advantage to give Anaheim the 2-1 lead.

Late in the third, the Coyotes evened it up thanks to a Ducks penalty.

Antoine Vermette fired a shot on Frederik Andersen and Shane Doan cleaned up the rebound to tie the game 2-2.

The third period started very poorly for the Arizona Coyotes. Rickard Rakell waited out Lindback and fed Corey Perry for an easy goal. 3-2 Ducks.

Andrew Cogliano got the Ducks on the board again a minute and 45 seconds later when Kevin Bieksa found him on the doorstep for a tap-in. 4-2 Ducks.

A late power play for the Ducks allowed Patrick Maroon to score on a nice setup from Ryan Kesler.

Anaheim Ducks win 5-2.

Player Performance

Martin Hanzal had a very rough night. He took three penalties, all unwarranted, and one led to a Ducks goal on a delayed penalty. Another was the fifth goal and dagger in the heart of the Coyotes comeback. Much like Antoine Vermette, Hanzal has to get it together. He should be getting the stink eye from Dave Tippett after that performance.

Anders Lindback continued the Arizona Coyotes’ run of allowing five goals per game into the fourth game in a row. He made some wonderful saves  and also had a thoughtless gaffe that allowed a goal. He also proved why he sits behind Louis Domingue and not the other way around. The flopping and flailing is not easy on the eyes. He just looks constantly panicked. Playing behind this porous defense lately it’s no surprise, though, I guess.

Connor Murphy also had a bad night. He seemed outmatched and was on the ice for two even strength goals against.

Jarred Tinordi played the part of a 6’6 bruiser on the ice and while virtually everything on the defensive end was questionable at best, I feel like he’s one of the better options the Coyotes have going forward. Beyond that, the Yotes need to give him an extended run just to see what they’ve got with him.

After scoring five goals in three games against the Ducks this season, Anthony Duclair was very quiet in tonight’s matchup. He didn’t even record a shot on net. If anyone should’ve been firing pucks tonight, it should’ve been #10…so what gives? He had been doing better with being aggressive of late.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson netted a point with an assist on Doan’s goal and logged 29:22 minutes of ice time. He’s amazing. He also got turned around by Ryan Kesler which led to the fifth Ducks goal.

Arizona Coyotes Player of the Game

Shane Doan scored his 19th goal of the season and tied the franchise record for career power play goals at 122. He is now just one point shy of Dale Hawerchuk‘s franchise leading 929 points.

The View From The 200 Level

As I tweeted earlier…regression sucks.

The Arizona Coyotes are suffering through a hardcore bout of regression of late.

What’s worse is they are coupling that inevitable regression with some of the ugliest, most undisciplined play from a hockey team that you could see.

They cannot get out of their own way.

Next: 10 Best Coyotes Goals From The First Half Of The Season

Louis Domingue and Anders Lindback have both been a little shaky in the past few games, however it’s hard to be steady when the team in front of you is constantly in your end of the ice.

The Yotes simply cannot generate pressure or clean shots on goal and it is killing them on the back end. They are piling up dumb penalties due to fatigue and desperation.

The team now has no more games until Wednesday which leaves them plenty of time to get things situated and formulate a valid plan of attack.

The Arizona Coyotes play the Vancouver Canucks next Wednesday at 7:30 PM.