Arizona Coyotes ride strong power play effort to second consecutive victory: By the Numbers
Feb 4, 2015, 2:59 AM | Updated: 2:59 am
Don’t look now, but the Arizona Coyotes have turned their fortunes around as of late. After defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 on Tuesday night, Arizona has won three of its last four games and has points in four of the last five.
The Coyotes have found a small oasis of success in a season of despair.
Arizona dominated early, scoring the opening goal and having 12 of the game’s first 14 shots. Lucas Lessio potted his second goal of the season eight minutes into the game and the Coyotes soared from there.
A lethal power play, one of few bright spots for the Coyotes this season, pushed Arizona in front for good. Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored his team-leading 15th goal of the season, tying his career high, and captain Shane Doan netted his 11th to open up a multi-goal lead after Columbus tied the game 40 seconds into the middle frame.
The Coyotes went into a defensive shell in the third period, getting outshot 12-2 and not putting their first puck on goal until the period was 12 minutes old. However, goaltender Mike Smith and the rest of the Coyotes held on and closed the game out with a Tobias Rieder empty-net goal.
Smith stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced for his ninth win of the season. It was one of the best performances of an extremely rough season for the 32-year-old.
Here’s how the Coyotes extended their win streak to two games, by the numbers:
1
Brendan Shinnimin recorded his first career NHL point with a secondary assist on Lucas Lessio’s first-period goal. Shinnimin has played six games with the Coyotes this season.
5/7
Arizona just has Columbus’ number with the man advantage. The Coyotes went 2-for-3 on the power play on Tuesday and are 5-for-7 against them this season.
6-0-1
The Coyotes improved to 6-0-1 this season when scoring multiple power play goals.
8
Tuesday night’s game marked the end of Arizona’s season-long eight-game road trip. The Coyotes went 3-3-2 on the trip and play their next two games at home.
9
Nine different Coyotes recorded a point against the Blue Jackets. Keith Yandle and Antoine Vermette were the only players to record multiple points — each had two assists.
15
Oliver Ekman-Larsson extended his scoring lead on all NHL defensemen with his second-period goal. OEL now has a three-goal lead over Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson for most goals by a defenseman this season.
32
Yandle added a pair of assists to his season total, giving him a team-leading 32. His 36 points lead all Coyotes as well.
