Coyotes drop 1st game at home
The Arizona Coyotes played a much better second game than their first of the NHL season, a six-goal drubbing from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
An overtime shootout loss in Game 2 at Buffalo Saturday had the Coyotes feeling a lot better about things going into Monday’s home opener against Central Division rival St. Louis. And then the wheels came off again, Arizona giving up five goals in just over five minutes of the second period in a 7-4 loss at Gila River Arena.
As the goals poured in, all the fans could do was either boo or watch in stunned silence. The Coyotes lost their fifth consecutive home opener, through two have been in overtime.
“There’s the same theme here, that when adversity arrived, instead of digging in we did not respond the right way,” Coyotes head coach André Tourigny said, asked if what he saw Monday was similar to the Columbus game. “So we know what to look for and we will address it, and we have a lot of players with pride in that (locker) room and they want to address that.”
It’s been largely accepted that the Coyotes (0-2-1) are in rebuild mode, and with that a chance for the top lottery pick in the next NHL Entry Draft. But in two losses this season in which a combined 15 goals were allowed, the Coyotes faltered on defense in front of No. 1 goalie Carter Hutton for stretches, and those times have proved disastrous.
Hutton played the entire game in the season opener. On Monday he was pulled late in the second period after four straight even-strength goals for the Blues.
“It’s embarrassing. We had a couple of turnovers there. We’re not talking. When things get tough, we turn selfish and that is not something that we want to do,” forward Clayton Keller said. “I liked our first period and we just totally got away from it. They’re a good team, and that’s what happens.
“‘Huts’ doesn’t deserve that,” Keller said of Hutton. “That’s on us. We just break down and leave him out to dry.”
Turnovers in the defensive zone, coverage mistakes and one goal in which Jordan Kyrou of the Blues maneuvered his way with the puck on his way to the net were the undoing of the Coyotes, whose 2-1 lead became a four-goal deficit quickly.
But the Coyotes fought back. Christian
Fischer and Travis Boyd scored a few minutes apart, Boyd’s goal first awarded to Ilya Lyubushkin but later officially changed.
The Blues were able to put the game away with another goal.
Keller gave the Coyotes a promising start with his second goal of the season at 5:26 of the first period. Keller later added an assist and has 18 points in 20 games against the team he grew up rooting for.
Pavel Buchnevich tied the score at 1 when he finished a 2-on-1 with a shot past Hutton at 7:05 of the first. But before the period had ended, Buchnevich was tossed from the game for a headbutt on Arizona’s Lawson Crouse.
Crouse went to back up teammate Andrew Ladd, who’s been hit high in the face by Buchnevich near the benches. As play stopped, Crouse went to confront the Blues forward.
The incident led to a five-minute major for which Buchnevich will certainly be fined and/or suspended. The Coyotes had three minutes of power play time but could not take advantage.
Crouse finished some crisp passing from Shayne Gostisbehere and Phil Kessel for a goal to the give the Coyotes — decked out in their popular white Kachina design uniforms they normally wear for away games — a 2-1 lead. Then things unraveled.
Karel Vejmelka, hero of the battle to an overtime point Saturday at Buffalo, came on for Hutton after the Blues’ sixth goal and stopped 11 of 12 shots faced. Gostisbehere and Kessel had three assists,
and Boyd got his first point as a Coyote with his goal.
‘Bear’ track
Tourigny, on goalie Carter Hutton, who had 15 saves on 21 shots after struggling in his first start in the season opener:
Gost-is-here
Gostisbehere has four assists in three games, his first three as a Coyote. He’s run the point on the power play effectively and teamed with Kessel for assists on two Coyotes goals, including Keller’s power play goal.
Up next
The Coyotes face the Pacific Division-leading Edmonton Oilers Thursday night at Gila River Arena. The two teams haven’t played each other since Feb. 4, 2020.