Arizona Coyotes lose brother vs brother matchup with Senators: By the Numbers
Jan 31, 2015, 10:56 PM | Updated: 10:56 pm
Rarely in professional sports do brothers get the opportunity to play each other. Even more rarely do two sets of brothers get to play each other in the same game. That’s exactly what happened on Saturday afternoon in Canada’s capital.
For the first time since 1983, two sets of brothers squared off in an NHL game and all four players had a significant impact.
The Ottawa Senators walked away with a 7-2 win in the brother vs. brother matchup, in no small part because of second-period goals by Milan Michalek and Mark Stone. Arizona’s Zbynek Michalek scored the game’s opening goal and Michael Stone had three shots in nearly 20 minutes of ice time.
Mike Hoffman, Bobby Ryan, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Erik Karlsson and Mika Zibanejad also scored for the Senators as they ran away with the game in the final 23:09. Arizona’s Sam Gagner scored his ninth goal of the season in the third period, but it did little to affect the game.
Arizona broke its seven-game losing streak Thursday night in Toronto, but was unable to push past the Senators to begin a winning streak. The Coyotes hung in early, killing off four first-period penalties, but the wheels fell off late.
Mike Smith allowed five goals on 20 shots and was pulled from the game in the third period. Rookie Louis Domingue, recalled from the AHL earlier in the day, replaced him and stopped 9-of-11 shots.
Here’s how the Coyotes lost the Saturday matinee, by the numbers:
1
Louis Domingue played his first NHL game on Saturday. The Coyotes are searching for a new back-up goaltender and the youngster may get more opportunities to play between the pipes at the highest level.
1-1-1
Since the All-Star break, Mike Smith is 1-1-1 with a .897 save percentage. Smith has a career-low .888 save percentage so far this season. It was the ninth time this season Smith allowed five goals or more.
5:26
The game fell apart for the Coyotes during a 5:26 stretch of the game from the end of the second period through the beginning of the third. A 1-1 tie turned into a 5-1 Ottawa lead in that short span of time.
10
Discipline was nowhere to be found on Saturday afternoon. The two teams combined to take 10 minor penalties. Arizona has six of them including a too many men on the ice penalty and a delay of game for the goaltender playing the puck in the restricted area.
16
Players for each team sacrificed their bodies to keep the puck away from their goaltenders. Each team blocked 16 shots total, while the Coyotes blocked 11 in the first period.
37-31
Despite getting outscored by five goals, the Coyotes outshot the Senators 37-31.
69
Neither team waited long to get on the scoreboard. The first two goals were scored in the game’s first 69 seconds. Arizona’s Zbynek Michalek scored 40 seconds in and Ottawa’s Mike Hoffman responded 29 seconds later.
