Questionable no-call costs Coyotes in loss to New Jersey
Oct 20, 2015, 8:10 PM
New Jersey Devils players, Travis Zajac (19), Adam Larsson (5), of Sweden, and Lee Stempniak (20) celebrate Larsson's overtime goal as Arizona Coyotes center Max Domi (16) kneels on the ice in an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015, in Newark, N.J. The Devils won 3-2 in overtime. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
NEWARK, N.J. — Two questions into his postgame interview, Coyotes coach Dave Tippett was asked if the New Jersey Devils’ game-winning goal was the product of a New Jersey Devils penalty.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” Tippett said.
That’s coach speak for ‘you bet your bottom it was a penalty.’
The seeds were set for the start of a successful road trip when Arizona shrugged off a sluggish start and rallied to tie the game with 51 seconds left in regulation on Mikkel Boedker’s first goal of the season.
Forty-three seconds into overtime, however, Devils defenseman Adam Larsson appeared to cross-check Coyotes center Martin Hanzal in the lower back as Hanzal carried the puck from the circle toward the offensive blue line. Hanzal went down, New Jersey went the other way on a 3-on-1 and Larsson cashed in with the game-winning goal in a 3-2 win on Tuesday at Prudential Center.
“With 3-on-3, you saw tonight if someone blows a wheel — every turnover, every missed play is an opportunity the other way,” said goalie Mike Smith, who made 22 saves.
For the Coyotes, Tuesday was a missed opportunity to break a two-game losing streak at the start of a five-game road trip whose stops will get more difficult, beginning with Thursday’s game against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
For that squandered chance, the Coyotes carry more blame than the officials. Arizona (3-2-1) got off to a horrendous start, failing to register a shot on goal until 1:54 remained in the first period.
“We didn’t execute very well again, getting through the neutral zone,” Tippett said. “We looked like we had bus legs going out there a bit but we hung around the game, fought right to the end.”
Just as the Coyotes appeared to be gaining some offensive momentum late in the second period, the power play cost them again. Boedker got caught flat-footed at the far blue line after a turnover, Oliver Ekman-Larsson didn’t play the ensuing 2-on-1 well and Devils forward Travis Zajac scored on a backhand to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead with 27 seconds left in the period.
It was the fourth shorthanded goal the Coyotes have allowed in six games this season. They allowed seven shorthanded goals all of last season in what was inarguably the worst season since the franchise moved to the Valley in 1996.
“Everybody gets pissed off when you let in goals on the power play,” Boedker said. “We as a power play unit have to stick together, put our heads down and work extremely hard to get better.”
The same three guys who have ridden to the rescue all season did it again when Hanzal carried the puck into the neutral zone and Max Domi threaded a pass to Anthony Duclair streaking across the slot. Duclair’s fifth goal of the season tied the game just 47 seconds into the third period, putting him one goal behind Dallas’s Jamie Benn for the NHL lead.
Mike Cammalleri put the Devils (2-3-1) back on top with a shot through a screen that Smith never saw, but Boedker got the equalizer off a feed from Ekman-Larsson to give Arizona its third power-play goal in 29 chances and earn the Coyotes a point.
“It always bugs you when you don’t produce and you don’t help your team out,” Boedker said. “It’s nice to be able to contribute a little bit but too bad we didn’t get the two points.”
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