Dreadful third period sinks Arizona Coyotes: By the Numbers
Nov 21, 2014, 5:03 AM | Updated: 5:03 am
The Arizona Coyotes did everything right on Thursday night in Dallas. They scored first, kept the Stars off the board and controlled the puck more often than not. The only problem — it was only through the game’s first two periods.
The Coyotes fell apart in the third period, allowing three goals en route to a 1-3 defeat, their second loss in a row. Thursday’s loss snaps Arizona’s three-game point streak.
Heading into the third period with a 1-0 lead, the Coyotes allowed two goals in the opening minute and were unable to recover. Jason Spezza added a late goal to push Dallas’ lead to two with under five minutes to play.
Arizona had a brief push in the waning seconds of regulation, but were unable to get a second goal past Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen — falling for the 10th time this season and sixth time in 11 road games in regulation this season.
Getting back to .500 has proven to be elusive for the Coyotes as they have not been able to shake their losing record since early November.
At 8-10-2, the Coyotes sit near the bottom of the Pacific Division and Western Conference about a quarter of the way through the season.
Here’s a look at Thursday’s loss by the numbers.
0
The Coyotes killed off both of Dallas’ power play attempts. The Stars have 0 power play goals in their last five games.
1
John Klingberg’s first NHL goal tied the game for the Stars 19 seconds into the third period. It took the young Swedish defenseman six games to hit the back of the net.
4
Defenseman Michael Stone led all Coyotes with four blocked shots. He now has 48 blocks this season, leading the team.
24
Mike Smith stopped 24-of-27 pucks, for a save percentage of .889. The Canadian netminder was stellar through the first two periods, but like the team in front of him, the wheels came off in the final frame.
27
Each team had exactly 27 shots on Thursday night. The Coyotes had the only double-digit shot period of the night, putting 10 pucks on goal in the second period. Dallas had nine shots in every period.
33
Dallas scored two goals in 33 seconds earli in the third period to tie, then take the lead. Klingberg opened the scoring followed by Cody Eakin. Both goals occurred in the opening minute of the period.
56.1
Arizona owned the faceoff dot, winning 56.1 percent of the game’s faceoffs. No Coyote won fewer than 50 percent of his faceoffs. Joe Vitale led all players by winning 88 percent of his draws.
200
Sam Gagner’s first-period assist on Lauri Korpikoski’s goal was the 200th of his career and sixth as a Coyote. Although he is just 25 years of age, Gagner is in his eighth NHL season. Thursday’s game was the 501st game of Gagner’s career.
