Heading into the third period, there was hope at Mullett Arena that the Arizona Coyotes might end their long losing skid with a 3-2 lead. The team then proceeded to blow their lead, giving up four straight goals, and eventually lost 6-3 to the Edmonton Oilers. There’s only so much a person can say with the losing streak increasing more and more. Here are the takeaways from Monday afternoon.
Third Period Struggles
A 3-2 lead and hope disappeared in a matter of seconds. Evander Kane struck early in the third to tie the game up at three. Then, seconds later, Zach Hyman tipped the puck past Matt Villalta to give the Oilers the lead. Horrible defense was the culprit behind the blown lead. The Coyotes easily could’ve won the game but giving up two goals within seconds of each other isn’t a recipe for success.
“We knew they were going to come,” Nick Bjugstad said. “That’s a good team and we played two good periods against them. We stuck to our game plan and kind of got away from it. They scored on us, and they kind of kept coming. The moral of the story is these last 10 games, we’re not finding ways to have a full 60. It’s pretty cliche and pretty simple. Right now, it seems to be very difficult for all of us.”
Third-period success has alluded the Coyotes for the past couple of games. The team took the Colorado Avalanche into the third period with a 3-3 tie. They then gave up a late goal due to horrible play and lost 4-3. Before that, they had horrible finishes against the Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild.
You can’t blame the goaltending for the loss against the Oilers. Villalta was playing in his first-ever NHL start and the Oilers’ offense and power play sometimes piles on top of the best goaltenders in the league. The team can’t rely on a goaltender who has only appeared in two NHL games to shut down the best offense in the league.
Nick Bjugstad: The Lone Bright Star
There’s always some sort of positive in a horrible moment. For this game, it was Bjugstad. The forward was tasked with shutting down Connor McDavid and he did so pretty successfully. McDavid walked out of Mullett Arena with only one assist.
Bjugstad also scored two goals against his former team. While the rest of his team couldn’t help him pull off a win, it does show that he is an important part of this team and if needed: a useful asset to flip at the trade deadline. Outside of that, the Minnesota native thought his team had a decent first two periods but was frustrated with the result that has been the same for the past 10 games.
“We were taking time and space away from them,” Bjugstad said. “That’s a good team. Obviously, we know who they got over there. They’re gonna get their chances but we want to make sure we’re not sitting back and letting them create. We thought we did that for a couple of periods. It’s tough in the room right now. We have to figure it out. I think we’d do just about anything for a win.”
Bjugstad now has 29 points in 55 games for the Coyotes. He’s been playing on a line with Matias Maccelli and Lawson Crouse. It’ll be interesting to see what general manager Bill Armstrong does with the center at the deadline and if he’ll flip Bjugstad for the second straight season.
When Will the Losing Stop?
There’s not a lot more that head coach Andre Tourigny can say. The Coyotes have now suffered 10 straight losses, most of them close games to tough teams. There’s no excuse though for the amount of leads the team has blown in the past couple of weeks.
Tourigny knows his team is one of the youngest in the league and still growing. It takes losses for teams to grow. However, 10 losses is another matter and is something the Coyotes need to snap out of to continue to grow.
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“They’re (Edmonton) a tough team to play against,” Tourigny said. “I think we played toe to toe with them, we did a lot of good things. Obviously, it’s a process right now for us. We’re going through an extremely tough situation. We’re the second-youngest team in the league. We’re growing, we’re learning out of it. Sometimes learning is through pain and we’re going through that right now. It’s really frustrating. In the last two games, I think we played like the Yotes. We played with a lot of energy, a lot of drive, a lot of passion. I’m proud of the way the guys have battled. Unfortunately, you could see the pressure getting to us. Like I said, we’re a young team, it’s a process. We’re proud of the way we battle. At the same time, we have to learn, learn to play in those critical situations. It’s the same thing, being down 3-0 in a series or being done 3-1, and you need to win the next game. It’s a lot of pressure. So our young team is learning.”
The Coyotes haven’t won a game in February. In fact, the last time they won was on Jan. 22 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Every game since then has been a loss. The energy and the confidence haven’t been there for the Coyotes. Even when they have all the momentum, somehow they give it all back to their opponents and now, the team finds themselves under .500, out of the playoff race currently, and doing both of those things at the wrong time. If the Coyotes continue this trend, they’ll find themselves being sellers at the trade deadline which is only a month away.
The Coyotes have one more game at Mullett Arena on Wednesday (Feb. 21) against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The team will then embark on a tough Canadian road trip playing the Winnipeg Jets, Montreal Canadiens, Maple Leafs, and Ottawa Senators. That means three of their next five games are against playoff teams. Confidence needs to be up and right now, it’s not.
“We’re not confident,” Tourigny said. “That’s exactly what you have to learn. It’s easy to play when you’re confident. When you’re confident, you’re playing with energy, playing with pace. Life is good, the sky is blue, life is good. It’s about how you carry yourself outside of the rink. It’s how you carry yourself on a non-gameday. It’s how you carry yourself prior to the game. It’s how you carry yourself in the game. In a tough moment when the opponent controls all of it, we need to be able to stop the bleeding and obviously right now, our confidence is extremely fragile. We need to learn to get that back and play in that situation and want to play in those situations because that young team is a really good young team. They will play those really critical games at some point. So they need to know how to handle it and we’re in one right now. It’s a process we’re learning.”
The Coyotes will return to action on Feb. 21 against the Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs are 30-16-8 and are third in the Atlantic Division.