Arizona Coyotes vs Edmonton Oilers recap: Alberta clippered

After downing the Canucks in Vancouver on Monday night the Coyotes continued their tour of western Canada, rolling into Edmonton looking to keep up the momentum. Despite a solid effort, the Coyotes would lose this one on the strength of a two goal game from Edmonton's Jesse Joensuu by a final of 3-2.

After a quiet first half of the opening period, things began to get exciting when B.J. Crombeen and Matt Hendricks dropped the gloves, with both going off five minutes for fighting. Shortly afterwards the Coyotes opened the scoring with a backhander from Mikkel Boedker that beat Ben Scrivens at the ten minute mark of the first period.

Edmonton would respond with under two minutes remaining, with a Benoit Pouliot shot beating Devan Dubnyk top shelf while the teams skated four on four. Although Matt Hendricks was awarded a penalty shot after being hauled down on a breakaway with under two minutes to go, he was unable to capitalize and both teams headed to the dressing room with one a piece despite the Oilers dominating the Coyotes in shots 17-8 after the first period.

Edmonton would pounce early in the second with a wrister from Joensuu that beat Dubnyk on a feed from Steven Pinizzotto just under two minutes into the period. After a flurry of penalties to both teams, the Coyotes would come roaring back just shy of the twelve minute mark when Rob Klinkhammer put home a shorthanded goal on a feed from Chris Summers to even the score at two each. Despite an Edmonton shot that snuck past Dubnyk and bounced off the post, the teams would enter the third period still knotted at 2-2.

While it felt like deja vu early in the third, it wasn't a glitch in the matrix -- Pinizzotto once again found Joensuu who snapped a wrister past Dubnyk to put the Oilers up 3-2 at 2:37. Despite chances from both sides throughout the third period, that would be the difference maker and the Coyotes would go on to suffer their first regulation loss during the preseason.

Paw Prints

• Edmonton's perspective: The Copper & Blue
• While neither team managed a power play goal despite nine chances between them, the Coyotes did get a shorthanded tally from Rob Klinkhammer.
• Edmonton outshot the Coyotes 33-26, including a whopping 17 in the first period alone.
• That tally could have been a lot worse had Arizona not blocked 13 shots throughout the game.

Three Stars of the Game

• 3rd Star - Rob Klinkhammer - Tied it at two with his timely shorthander in the 2nd.
• 2nd Star - Ben Scrivens - Stopped 24 of 26 for a .923 save percentage in the win.
• 1st Star - Jesse Joensuu - Notched two goals, including the game winner in the 3rd.

Looking Ahead

The Coyotes play their final game of the preseason at home on Friday against the San Jose Sharks. Puck drops at 7 p.m.