In battle of the Southwest, the Arizona Coyotes come out victorious

The Arizona Coyotes put together one of the better defensive efforts of the entire season against a team with a well-deserved reputation for flying high.

Arizona got two goals from Martin Hanzal as the Coyotes defeated the Dallas Stars by a final score of 3-1 on Thursday night at Gila River Arena. It was the team's second win against the Central Division leaders this season in as many meetings.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0 Arizona: Hard work pays off for the Coyotes. Brad Richardson did an excellent job forcing an offensive zone turnover. The puck trickled back to Connor Murphy, who unleashed a slap shot that tipped off of Tobias Rieder's stick and in. Assists to Murphy and Richardson on the goal at 14:11.

1-1 Tie: And just like that, Arizona's hard work was for naught. Ales Hemsky and Antoine Roussel combined for a two-on-one rush on the ensuing faceoff, and Hemsky finished at point-blank range in front of Louis Domingue with a gorgeous stick-move. Assist to Roussel on the goal at 14:20.

Second Period

2-1 Arizona: It doesn't have to be pretty. It just has to count. Moments after a power play carried over from the first period expired, Oliver Ekman-Larsson took a shot from the near-side faceoff circle that ping-ponged off of several bodies in front before going in off of Martin Hanzal. Assists to Ekman-Larsson and Michael Stone on the goal at 0:55.

Third Period

3-1 Arizona: A shorthanded goal was scored. Thankfully for Arizona, it was the Coyotes who converted. Klas Dahlbeck took a slap shot on a Max Domi pass that rang off the crossbar and dropped straight down. Martin Hanzal was alone in front of the net, and had an easy tap-in to give Arizona a two goal lead. Assists to Dahlbeck and Domi on the shorthanded goal at 7:51.

Stat Report

Paw Prints

• For the Dallas reaction, check out Defending Big D.
• Louis Domingue made his second consecutive start for the Coyotes.
• No Nicklas Grossmann tonight for Arizona, as he had been nursing an injury for the past few days.
• Hemsky's first period goal was his fourth tally in his last eight games. His fourth goal all season was only scored on January 16th.
• Dallas and Arizona combined for three separate puck-over-glass penalties in the first.
• Martin Hanzal's second period tally was his 100th career NHL goal. Hanzal's third period goal was his first shorthanded tally since December 4th, 2008.
• Sergei Plotnikov was the only Coyote to play fewer than ten minutes.
• Attendance: 11,887.

Looking Ahead

Arizona welcomes an extremely desperate Philadelphia Flyers team to Gila River Arena on Saturday night. Puck drop is at 7 PM Arizona time.