The Arizona Coyotes blew a two goal lead against the rival Pacific Division Vancouver Canucks last night, resulting in an overtime loss for the second consecutive game.
They did manage to gather two points on this short two game road trip, but also lost a key player in Brad Richardson. He went down after a collision with Canucks's defenseman Nikita Tryamkin, who stands 6' 7", 265 in the second period.
After some evaluation at the hospital it was determined that Richardson suffered a broken tibia and fibula. Needless to say, the Coyotes will miss his services while he recovers.
At this point, the team may use Dylan Strome to fill in at center.
First period was scoreless
The two teams played evenly, and the Canucks thought they had scored, but it was determined that Coyotes' goalie Louis Domingue was interfered with in the crease, by Vancouver's Michael Chaput. Head Coach Dave Tippett challenged the play, and the goal was called off.
Vancouver had 13 shots on goal, and the Coyotes had 11.
Second period Coyotes lost the lead
Brad Richardson scored his fifth goal at 1:22 of the period on a play challenged by the Canucks claiming that Richardson was offside. He wasn't, and the goal stood.
Then at 10:45 of the period while the Coyotes were enjoying a power play, Anthony DeAngelo scored his second NHL goal. Max Domi controlled the puck on the right wall, and passed to a breaking Martin Hanzal, who had the puck knocked off his stick. Fortunately for the Yotes, DeAngelo was cruising in the slot area and rifled a perfectly placed wrist shot into the open side of the net.
Things were looking good for the Coyotes until Richardson got severely hurt and carried off the ice on a stretcher. That seemed to shake up the team.
Five minutes later Brandon Sutter scored to cut the Coyotes' lead in half. The Canucks weren't done yet, as the Sedin twins struck to tie the game at two. Daniel scored this goal to bring his team back into contention, assisted by his brother Henrik.
The Coyotes outshot the Canucks in this period 16-14.
No third period scoring, game goes to overtime
For the second straight game the Coyotes were going to play overtime, as each team threatened and the Vancouver club outshot Arizona 13-7.
Overtime blues again
This time the opposing team took 2:45 seconds to finish off the Coyotes. This particular time was unusual in that the winning overtime goal was scored on a penalty shot. Dylan Strome was charged with hooking Ben Hutton who was on a breakaway, and was awarded the penalty shot. He used a nifty backhand shot through the five-hole, which seems to be a weak spot on Domingue.
Next up
The Coyotes will play the another Pacific Division rival when they hook up with the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night in Glendale.
The Coyotes need to try to match last season's 16-10-3 record against Pacific Division teams. So far this season they are 1-1-2.