Slow start costly as Coyotes fall to Sharks on night Shane Doan is honored
Jan 22, 2016, 12:08 AM | Updated: 12:09 am
Arizona Coyotes' Louis Domingue, left, moves into position to make a save on a shot by San Jose Sharks' Joonas Donskoi, of Finland, during the third period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz. The Sharks defeated the Coyotes 3-1. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
GLENDALE, Ariz. — A week ago, the Arizona Coyotes were ranked among the highest-scoring teams in the NHL. That hasn’t been the case over the last three contests.
For the third straight game, the Coyotes managed just one goal or less, coming up short against the San Jose Sharks 3-1 in front of 12,251 fans at Gila River Arena on Thursday night. Louis Domingue looked sharp between the pipes again for the Desert Dogs, stopping 20 of the 22 shots he faced. He’s still an impressive 7-2-3 as a starter this season, and he’s managed to turn aside a combined 46 of the 50 shots he’s seen in those two regulation losses.
In fact, his performance in net may be just what the team needs to stay afloat until it can get the offense rolling again.
Shane Doan was honored in a ceremony before the game, as the organization paid tribute to the 380 career goals (now 384) he registered to pass Dale Hawerchuk and become the franchise’s all-time scoring leader. And his line with Brad Richardson and Jordan Martinook was the Coyotes’ most effective line all night — he even chipped in with an assist on Arizona’s lone goal in the third period.
Fans leaving tonight's game will receive a print of the @darrigoart #Doan380 painting. pic.twitter.com/jE6IU2y236
— #Doan380 (@ArizonaCoyotes) January 22, 2016
Unfortunately for the Coyotes, that goal wasn’t enough. San Jose jumped on them early, notching two tallies within the first 10 minutes. The Sharks eventually added an empty-netter late, but the outcome of this one was heavily influenced by Arizona’s rough start.
“I thought we played terrible in the first, so that probably cost us the game,” Richardson pointed out. “I thought we were pretty good in the second half of the game, especially the third. We kind of started playing our game; our defense got active, we were all over them. They’re a good team and it’s tough when you’re down two. But the start was unacceptable for that game.”
The silver lining for the Coyotes is that they still get four more meetings with the Sharks — a team they now trail by two points for second place in the Pacific. Even with the loss Thursday, Arizona is still 10-2-2 in the division. No team in the league has a better record in that regard, and it will be put to the test on Saturday night, when the Los Angeles Kings come to town.
That game marks the seventh and final contest on this lengthy homestand. Earlier this month, Dave Tippett cautioned that it’s not always beneficial to play so many games in a row on home ice because complacency can set in. That doesn’t seem to be the issue in this case.
“We started the home-stand pretty well, I look at just individual games,” he said, after Thursday’s outing. “The New Jersey game I thought we played very well. Their goalie played well. The Buffalo game was a tight game, so there are things I like about our game. Tonight was a game we talked about, it was a measuring stick game, and we didn’t have enough players measure up tonight. So it is a good learning experience for our group, and we will regroup for Saturday.”
That last part could be the key for the Coyotes. Despite their first half success, they’re still a very young team.
Many of the players on the roster have yet to experience the rigors of making a postseason push during the stretch run in the NHL, so it’s only logical to think they’ll improve as they gain experience in games like this. Making the playoffs this season will likely mean going through San Jose (or Vancouver), so any lessons they can take from this one should prove useful down the line.
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