Challenge won, but game lost
Willie Desjardins’ mouth was wide open in disbelief and Daniel Sedin’s mouth looked like a chipped picket fence from taking a puck in the face. Who knew they would combine to inject some needed life into the Vancouver Canucks when it mattered most Monday at Rogers Arena.
The Canucks look dead and buried when Jacob Markstrom couldn’t glove a Michael Stone shot for what appeared to be a 4-1 lead in the third period. Not quite.
Desjardins challenged that the scoring play was offside and the Canucks coach finally got one right with his fifth challenge of the season. Six seconds later, Henrik Sedin put a saucer pass on Daniel Sedin’s blade and the winger went stick side to turn it into a 3-2 nail-biter.
But that was the final score and the loss raises concerns because the Canucks are now 8-7-9 in one-goal games.
Nobody was giving up more goals per game than the Coyotes at 3.18 per outing, so what better opponent to prop up an offence plunging like the Canadian dollar. However, on a night when 39-yearold Shane Doan scored twice, preventing goals has become as concerning as scoring them for Vancouver.
Doan’s easy second goal came after Chris Tanev fell and Tobias Rieder was left alone trying to deke Markstrom. He put his effort off the far post and an untouched Doan made a one-foot putt.
It was the same story when Laurent Dauphin scored his first NHL goal to give the Coyotes a 2-1 lead. After Bo Horvat ended a prolonged scoring drought, the Arizona rookie easily deposited a loose puck just 19 seconds later.