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Tonight was much better than Tuesday night. The Arizona Coyotes played a better team game, even if the shot production/suppression was skewed again.
The Predators know their path to the cup is going to go through California, but Arizona likes to try to play spoiler down the stretch.
I'm still struggling to understand why Head Coach Dave Tippett allowed Laurent Dauphin to take the defensive zone face-off that lead to the tie-ing goal for the Preds. He had Boyd Gordon out on the ice. Why didn't he take it?
Musically speaking, the Preds did Rick Roll the crowd, but redeemed it with the Dr. Who Theme.
Overall this game was a solid Coyotes road game, even being outshot by ten shots or more, at least they got a point... that does not really matter.
Scoring Summary
First Period
1-0 Arizona- Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who was under pressure on the wall, passed the puck to Zbynek Michalek who threw the puck towards the net and Antoine Vermette tipped it in past Pekka Rinne at 6:26 of the first.
Second Period
2-0 Arizona- Shane Doan finds himself open for a pass from Brad Richardson, on the right circle and blasts a one timer past Rinne, finishing on his knee. The captain now has 28 goals on the season at 9:42 of the second.
Third Period
2-1 Arizona- Nashville goes on the power play on a Connor Murphy elbowing penalty. Craig Smith kicks it out to Shea Weber who snaps it past Mike Smith at 7:26 of the third.
2-2 Tie- Laurent Dauphin loses a defensive zone. Roman Josi throws it in front of the net and Filip Forsberg tips it past Smith at 19:41.
Overtime
3-2 Nashville- Josi goes end to end beating Domi and slides it past Smith at :20 of the Overtime.
Stats
| Arizona Coyotes | Nashville Predators | |
| First Period Shots | 4 | 8 |
| Second Period Shots | 7 | 10 |
| Third Period Shots | 7 | 12 |
| Overtime Shots | 0 | 1 |
| Total Shots | 18 | 31 |
| Power Plays | 0 for 2 | 1 for 5 |
| Faceoff Wins | 34 | 22 |
| Save Percentage | .903 | .889 |
Paw Prints
- For the Nashville recap, check out On the Forecheck
- No Nicklas Grossmann again for the Coyotes as he welcomes his brand new baby girl into the world. No Martin Hanzal either, he's been shut down for the season and Louis Domingue is now on baby watch.
- Gabriel Bourque was the only Predator not to dress due to injury.
- The Preds once again, seemed to have discounted the Coyotes like they did at GRA in January.
- Coyotes cannot finish worse than 24th or better then 22nd.
- Only one game left, then we go not so quietly into the offseason.
Looking Ahead
Arizona heads into San Jose for their last game of the season. The game will start at 7:30pm Arizona time.