Arizona Coyotes coach Dave Tippett: ‘We need to get more people engaged’

The Arizona Coyotes had another disappointing loss Tuesday when they gave up a 3-0 lead against the Colorado Avalanche.

The final score was 4-3, with Colorado emerging victorious in overtime. Head coach Dave Tippett said Wednesday some bad luck played into the loss, but the team must improve their play in order to win.

“A couple bad breaks, I mean, the third goal was off our stick and then in, and the overtime goal was off our stick in, so a couple bad breaks,” Tippett told Bickley and Marotta on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “But that being said, we give up far too many chances, and just too many players that are first effort players, not second effort players. We need to get more people engaged.”

The third goal for the Avalanche, which tied the game, came when a pass from a Colorado player bounced off Coyotes forward Lauri Korpikoski into the net. The winning goal in overtime was hit off the stick of center Martin Hanzal.

Tippett blamed that goal on poor defense at the beginning of the play.

“The play starts in the corner. We have two defensemen on one guy in the corner, and that one guy wins the puck. It’s the whole play. There’s a guy going down the back door and Marty just turns around and tries to intercept the pass, and it hits the stick and goes in. The play starts, the play should be shut down in the corner. That’s the way that works.”

The loss dropped Arizona to 9-11-3 on the season. The Coyotes are tied with Colorado for the second-to-last position in the Western Conference.

Tippett acknowledged the team — which has lost four of its last five games — has had a “tough” schedule recently, and hopes practice this week will help them sort things out.

“The players recognize that there’s bounces that happen in games and certain plays that may not go your way,” Tippett said. “But the biggest thing with us is we’ve got to get back and get to work. We’ve let too many close games slip away with less about what the other team is doing and more about mistakes in our group.

“So we need practice to make sure our structure’s in place, we have a base in place when we get in these situations, we can hopefully handle them a lot better.”

The Coyotes’ next game is Saturday at home against the Calgary Flames.

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