Coyotes surging behind massive scoring flurry
GLENDALE, ARIZ. >> The Arizona Coyotes lost four of their first five games, three by shutout.
Another lost season in the desert apparently on the way.
The thing about those early games, though, is they were close, unlike the start of last season. The Coyotes played well, just couldn’t seem to catch the right break or get pucks to find the net.
Once the pucks started going in, the Coy- otes couldn’t seem to miss.
Behind a scoring flurry that would have been unthinkable on previous teams, Arizona is off to its best 11-game start (6-5-0) since 2013-14.
“I really like all our games; we played well in all of them, we competed well,” Coyotes forward Derek Stepan said. “Yeah, we made some mistakes that cost us some goals early on, but we’re learning quickly.”
It’s been a long-arching curve.
The Coyotes have struggled since reaching the 2012 Western Conference finals, seeming to be in perpetual rebuilding mode. Arizona got last season off to a miserable start, needing 12 games to win for the first time to fall out of playoff contention before the season’s first month was over.
The Coyotes played better the last two months of the 2017-18 season and hoped it would carry over into this season. It did not, at least early.
Arizona opened the season with a pair of shutout losses and had four goals its first five games — three of those in its lone win. Then something clicked.
The Coyotes beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on the road on Oct. 18 and, after a 5-3 loss at Winnipeg, have been one of the NHL’s hottest teams.
With Tuesday night’s 5-1 home win over Ottawa, the Coyotes have outscored opponents 20-4 during a four-game winning streak. Arizona has 27 goals over a six-game span, a first for the franchise since 2006-07.
“The guys were sticking with it and practicing like the goals would come,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. “You have to have that mentality in this league. We’ve got good mojo right now and we don’t want to wreck it.”