Coyotes hang with NHL’s top team, but fall to Nashville Predators

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Coyotes are playing much better hockey as of late. As it turns out, so are the Nashville Predators, who took lead as the top team in the NHL with their win in Arizona on Thursday night.

The Coyotes didn’t get it done against the Preds in a 3-2 regulation loss, but a silver lining is that if any Western Conference team has been hanging with Nashville in the past month, it’s Arizona. As 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Craig Morgan pointed out, the Coyotes have the third-most points in the league (24) since Feb. 8, behind only the Tampa Bay Lightning (25) and Nashville (30).

The loss was the first time since March 9, 2015 that the Coyotes fell to the Predators on home ice.

“We didn’t give them much tonight. That’s a championship team there,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. “I think guys have a sour taste in their mouth. I think they believe they should’ve won the game tonight, and I like that feeling. I know losing sucks but I just think that a couple plays at the blue line, we mismanaged the puck and it ended up in our net.”

The Coyotes out-shot Nashville 34-29 as Darcy Kuemper made 26 saves.

Arizona scored first, though Nashville briefly thought they had the privilege of netting the game’s first goal. In the first period, former Coyote Kyle Turris banged home a rebound on a shot from Craig Smith. That would’ve made it 1-0 Nashville, but Tocchet used a coach’s challenge.

That was a wise choice. Turris was offside, and the goal was overturned.

Before the first intermission, Oliver Ekman-Larsson was skating near his own bench as an official approached. The man in stripes raised his right arm and inadvertently elbowed the defenseman hard in the forehead. To add insult to near-injury, OEL was heading to the penalty box for cross-checking.

Ekman-Larsson was visibly upset.

“I didn’t expect that, he got me going a little bit there,” he said. “He came up right away and said sorry but I wasn’t in the mood, so I had to grab him in the third.”

In the second period, Christian Dvorak entered the Nashville zone on the rush and took a shot that was blocked by a sprawling Alexei Emelin. But he got another whack at it, this time lifting it over Emelin and past Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne for the goal. It was 1-0 at 4:09, marking Dvorak’s 15th goal of the year.

That lead didn’t last long.

Just 1:40 later, Smith was in the right circle and fed a nice pass to defenseman Ryan Ellis, who had joined the rush. Ellis took a shot on Kuemper that went in for the goal, tying things up 1-1.

Arizona took a 2-1 lead before second intermission when Oliver Ekman-Larsson had the puck up high in the offensive zone. He took a shot as Ryan Hartman kicked his legs out to try and block it, but the puck went between Hartman’s legs and beat Rinne. That was Ekman-Larsson’s 11th of the season at 16:28.

He makes it look so easy. pic.twitter.com/IaZ0FqwO2L

— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) March 16, 2018

“It feels like we’re around every game, and that’s a great feeling,” Ekman-Larsson said. “You play against one of the best teams in the league and you have a chance to win. So it says a lot about this team. It’s a long way to go but at the same time we’re playing better and we’re doing some good stuff out there.”

It wasn’t long into the third period that Turris got his goal back, the one that he thought he had scored earlier in the game. At 0:22, Kevin Fiala was behind the Coyotes net and sent a hard pass to Turris, all alone in front of the net. He scored, making it 2-2.

Minutes after that, Fiala and Turris teamed up again. This time, Turris took a clean faceoff win and sent the puck over to Fiala, who scored immediately. It was Fiala’s 23rd of the season to make it 3-2 at 4:31 in the third period.

That became the game-winning goal, marking Nashville’s 102nd point of the season.

“It’s frustrating because we probably should’ve won that game,” forward Brad Richardson said. “I’ll take the credit for that one, that blown faceoff there and they score. That shouldn’t happen.”

The Coyotes had three third-period power plays, but went scoreless in the game’s final 20 minutes as Nashville completed the comeback.

Arizona finished 0-for-5 on its power play (though Ekman-Larsson’s goal came just three seconds after the conclusion of a Nashville minor).

“Overall, I liked our effort. I liked the way we played against them,” Tocchet said. “Would I have liked to see some people cash in on their chances? Yeah. Would I have liked to see a couple better defensive-zone decisions? Yeah. But it’s a game of mistakes, right? We pushed them and that’s why they’re a great team: They win those types of games.”

UP NEXT

The Coyotes have just 12 games remaining in their season, four of which are at home.

On this homestand, Arizona will host Minnesota and Calgary before heading out on the road for six games. On that trip, the Coyotes will face Buffalo, Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, Vegas and Los Angeles.

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