Arizona Coyotes edge Florida Panthers: By the Numbers
Oct 26, 2014, 5:40 AM | Updated: 5:40 am
Another Saturday night, another overtime victory for the Arizona Coyotes.
Call it a rally, call it a surge of adrenaline, desperation, call it anything, really — all that matters to Arizona is that its three-game losing streak (0-2-1) snapped in Glendale with a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers.
What started out as a fairly even match led to a sudden flurry of shots in the third period and in overtime for the Coyotes, and a wrister from Oliver Ekman-Larsson sealed it in 2:20 in overtime.
So what do the numbers say?
9:51
Justin Hodgman’s NHL debut gave him a nice memory via a wrister that tied the game at 9:51 in the third period.
The goal came off a power play, ending another Coyotes streak: 127 scoreless minutes.
41-24
The Coyotes’ shot count exponentially increased after two periods. In the first, they only out-shot the Panthers 13-10 and went on to barely have an offensive production edge in the second at nine shots to eight.
Yet in the third period, the ‘Yotes came alive, slapping 16 shots at net as opposed to Florida’s six and sending the game into overtime thanks to Hodgman.
1
Only one shot ultimately mattered, though.
Ekman-Larsson scored at 2:20 of overtime on a power play with a one-timer past Panthers goaltender Robert Luongo.
As for Luongo, his 39 stopped shots were impressive — yet the two that slipped past him were the game-changers.
And the Coyotes can now start from scratch: They’ll be 1-0-0 off a previous three-game losing streak.
23-24
Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith saved 23 out of 24 shots against Florida to back up the his team’s rally.
400
Arizona center Antoine Vermette played his 400th straight game, which is the third-longest active streak in the NHL. He has been a force for the Coyotes since 2011.
