Arizona Coyotes Win Squeaker Against Hometown Anaheim Ducks in OT, 3 to 2
Arizona Coyotes have tough time, but beat the Anaheim Ducks 3 to 2 in OT in their final game of the season against the Ducks.
The Arizona Coyotes had Adin Hill in goal for Sunday night’s final game against the Anaheim Ducks this season. John Gibson was in goal for the Ducks, which in itself is a confidence boost of sorts for the 8th place boys from Southern California.
It was the men in black who scored first at 8:31 of the first period on a defensive mistake by Jordan Gross. Gross attempted to pass the puck behind the Yotes’ net, but it was intercepted by Trevor Zegras, who passed the puck to Sam Carrick. He took a quick, close up shot to the right of Adin Hill and put the puck in the net in a blink of an eye. Hill had no chance.
Only 27 seconds later, Jakob Chychrun (12G 13A 25 pts) scored his 10th goal of the season by carrying the puck down the right wing and firing a missile past Gibson over Gibson’s right shoulder to tie the game. At 14:47 of the first, Trevor Zegras got his second point of the period by taking a shot from near the Coyote’s blue line that was redirected enroute to the net by Derek Grant.
The Coyotes looked pretty lethargic in the first period and downright sloppy in the second when compared to their effort on Friday night. Of course having John Gibson in goal had something to do with it, but he certainly didn’t have any impact on the Coyotes shooting high and wide when there was little pressure on the shooters taking the shots.
The Yotes really didn’t have much spark on offense until fairly deep into the second stanza. Unfortunately, their sloppy puck management limited their goal scoring opportunities up to that point. Phil Kessel and Clayton Keller started heating up late in the period, and Kessel was hustling all over the ice. Still, the period ended without any scoring.
The third period had more of the same, meaning that there wasn’t much of anything happening. The Ducks had more “pep in their step” than the Coyotes did, and the Yotes had so little “O” zone time that they couldn’t even attempt to string passes together and maintain possession.
Finally, at 15:09 of the third, Jakob Chychrun scored his second of the night and 11th of the season on a rocket from the left wing, sneaking in behind the Ducks’ defenders. The game was tied mainly to the heroics of the man wearing number 6 in the white sweater. But wait, there’s more!
Just 1:47 into OT, Jakob Chychrun scored his third of the game and the game winner, snatching victory from the bills of defeat! A defenseman shouldn’t be 100% of a team’s goal scorers, but on this night, we’ll take it!
All in all, the Coyotes were less than stellar in Sunday night’s game, a recognizable trait resulting from their inconsistent play. Hard work and persistence often pays off if you stay the course, and the Coyotes were able to persevere on this night.
The Desert Dogs (18-15-5 41 pts) now face the LA Kings (14-16-6 34 pts) tonight and on Wednesday. Let’s hope that their positive “mojo” carries them through with positive results, two points at a time. Let’s go Coyotes!