After an impressive 4-game winning streak, the Arizona Coyotes were attempting to make it 5 as they started their week off by taking on the Calgary Flames. The Flames are just one of the many teams who are battling for playoff spot as the season winds down, so it was no doubt that they would be on top of their game.
The Coyotes immediately went back to their scoring ways, just 57 seconds into the game as they took an incredibly early 1-0 lead with a goal from Derek Stepan. It wasn’t until 10 minutes went by until Calgary tied it up with a redirected goal from Sam Bennett. Just 2 minutes later, Johnny Gaudreau wristed one past Antti Raanta to make it 2-1 Flames. that would conclude the 1st period. About half way through the 2nd period, Calgary took a hold on the Coyotes as they made it 3-1 with a power play goal from Sean Monahan. With the 3rd period now underway, Mark Jankowski backhanded one past Raanta to make it 4-1 Flames. About half way through the final period, Matthew Tkachuk wristed one past Raanta to make it 5-1 Flames. The Coyotes would score once more with a goal from Kevin Connauton to make it 5-2, but tonight just wasn’t the Coyotes night as their win-streak was stopped at 4 games. They were back at it two days later with a game against the visiting Anaheim Ducks, a team who is also fighting to keep a playoff spot.
After the defeat from Calgary, many players were not too happy with their performance. Coyotes’ center Derek Stepan stated after the game that out of the 82 game schedule, there will be games like this, “but you just have to move past them,” Stepan said. Antti Raanta stated that they would have a better performance on Saturday against Anaheim.
A tough Ducks team, but will Raanta’s words stay true to his promise? The Coyotes were celebrating with the Arizona Diamondbacks as Jake Lamb delivered the puck to center ice.
The Coyotes once again scored first as defenseman Jason Demers, fluttered one towards the net, somehow beating the Duck net minder, Ryan Miller, giving the Coyotes the 1-0 lad just 1 minute and 1 second into the game. The rest was all Antti Raanta and Ryan Miller; the battle of the goalies. It seemed that everything shot their ways was sucked up like a vacuum. As the game eventually came down to the final minutes, the Ducks were forced to pull Ryan Miller in an attempt to tie the game up, but with the speedy legs of Josh Archibald, he raced after the loose puck an drop-passed it down to Max Domi, who put it into the empty net and give the Coyotes another victory, as well as another shutout win for Antti Raanta as the Coyotes would go on to win 2-0. The Coyotes were back at it the next day with a game against the Vancouver Canucks.
Some additional news for the Coyotes this week:
With the trade deadline quickly approaching, the Yotes made a deal with the L.A. Kings as they traded away Tobias Rieder and Scott Wedgewood for Darcy Kuemper. The sad part of this story is that the Kings placed goalie Scott Wedgewood on waivers the following day and he fell through, so he reported down to the Kings’ AHL affiliate team.
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