Coyotes Game 9 Recap: Late penalty dooms the Coyotes as they fall 2-1 to Canes

Game Recap

The Arizona Coyotes finish out the month of October winless, having gone 0-8-1 to start the season. They dropped their early afternoon Halloween matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes and head to Philadelphia, still searching for their first win.

The Coyotes looked energized to start the game. This afternoon wasn’t another game like the Washington Capitals or the Florida Panthers; they were getting decent offensive zone time and looked engaged.

And they were rewarded early on for it. Lawson Crouse worked hard to keep the zone and found a wide-open Christian Fischer, who went hard to the net and fired it home.

Fischer has been working hard all season, and it was great to see him get his second. He has been one of the hardest working Coyotes players, both offensively and defensively.

But not long after taking the lead, the Coyotes started taking penalties. Dmitrij Jaškin, Clayton Keller, and Phil Kessel all took penalties in the first, and it was only through the hard work of Karel Vejmelka that the Coyotes had a 1-0 lead.

Vejmelka was playing out of his mind again, doing everything he could to keep the Yotes in the game. That included some truly mind-boggling saves that must have frustrated the Carolina Hurricanes to no end.

Unfortunately, after a near-goal that saw the puck deflect off Jaškin’s foot and under Vejmelka, the Hurricanes finally found the equalizer. Tony DeAngelo fired the puck on net, but Martin Nečas would deflect the shot and score his first of the season.

Going into the third period of a tie game, the Coyotes, of course, immediately took a penalty.

Barrett Hayton was off for cross-checking, but the Coyotes found a way to kill. Antoine Roussel even came close at the end, and for a moment, it looked like the Coyotes would find a way.

They had a few good looks on their next power play but again came up short. They were doing a decent job defensively, and Vejmelka was standing on his head, but they couldn’t find the final goal.

Unfortunately, just like Friday against the Capitals, they took one too many penalties. Jakob Chychrun took a late cross-checking penalty with 2:44 left in the game, and while he sat in the box, Brett Pesce scored the equalizer.

The Coyotes dug deep in the final minute but came up short. Even with Vejmelka on the bench, they failed to tie things up and fell 2-1 to the Hurricanes.

Lack of discipline was a problem again. The Coyotes have been playing a physical game, but they are taking way too many penalties. Unfortunately, these penalties are also coming at crucial moments, the start and end of the period when they should be playing their best.

It’s also impossible not to notice the poor power play. The Coyotes went 0-3 today and currently have only two power play goals this season. They are 31st in the league on the power play, ahead of only the Vegas Golden Knights, who have yet to score with the man advantage.

Lines

Three Stars

1. Karel Vejmelka - 37 saves on 39 shots
2. Brett Pesce - Game-winning power play goal
3. Christian Fischer - 1 goal

Next Game

The Coyotes’ road trip continues as they face off against the Philadelphia Flyers Tuesday at 4:00 pm.