Coyotes’ remarkable 25-game points streak against Oilers is over

GLENDALE, Ariz. — It will come as no consolation to Coyotes fans searching for the smallest morsel of positive news, but Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Gila River Arena felt like the law of averages finally leveling the playing field.

Arizona had gone a remarkable 25 straight games with at least a point against the Oilers and 25 straight games without a regulation loss (21-0-4) before Wednesday’s defeat. It made sense then that the Oilers’ goals came in bizarre fashion.

Edmonton’s first goal came on a one-timer from Mark Letestu on which goalie Mike Smith thought there was interference from the Oilers’ Matt Hendricks.

“After I saw the play I didn’t sell it well enough,” Smith said. “If I had just come off my post a little bit and bumped into him, then they would have called it back. Because I didn’t react like a fish out of water I guess, they couldn’t really do anything to overturn it.”

The Oilers’ second goal came courtesy of a rare bounce in which the puck struck not one, but both of Milan Lucic’s skates before settling into the net. And the third goal? How about a perfect carom off the end boards to fourth line grinder Hendricks waiting at the far post for a gimme?

“We’ve had some good breaks against this team for a long time,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. “The breaks went against us tonight.”

It’s almost unheard of in professional sports to maintain this sort of streak, regardless of how Oilers coach Todd McLellan tried to downplay it on Tuesday.

“There’s streaks all over the place in the league but it’s about this year’s team,” he said. “What happened last year or the year before doesn’t matter any more. Those points are gone and the years are gone.”

For perspective, the Coyotes’ run against the Oilers was the longest points streak in the NHL since Philadelphia went 32 straight against the Los Angeles Kings from Oct. 22, 1974 to Feb 5, 1983.

The Coyotes had their chances to rally and extend it with some Grade-A third-period chances from Anthony Duclair, Shane Doan and Radim Vrbata, but there was no more magic left in the sticks despite a goal from Oliver Ekman-Larsson with seven seconds left that revived faint hopes.

“We had been playing the right way against them,” Ekman-Larsson said. “When we played them hard and took time and space away from them, that’s when we have been successful against them. I thought that we didn’t do that very good tonight and that’s why we lost.”

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