Coyotes Falter Again in 2-1 Loss to Lightning
The Arizona Coyotes dropped yet another contest on Tuesday night in a 2-1 game to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second half of a back-to-back.
Following a 3-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Monday night, the Arizona Coyotes continued their rough stretch with a 2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Coyotes (27-27-6, 60 points) trailed 2-0 entering the third period, but were only able to cut the Lightning (34-22-4, 72 points) in half when the final horn rang.
Steven Stamkos got the scoring going in the contest with his 26th of the season mid-way through the first period. Stamkos corralled a rebound off of Louis Domingue‘s pad and stuffed it into the net behind the Coyotes’ goaltender.
The 1-0 Lightning lead stuck until very late in the second frame when Cedric Paquette scored his 4th goal of the season with less than five seconds remaining on a short-handed penalty shot. It was the Coyotes’ 11th short-handed goal allowed on the season, which is the highest tally in the NHL.
More from Heat Waved
- Arizona Coyotes: Slumping Strome Shipped to Chicago
- Arizona Cardinals Paid Sam Bradford $6.75 Million Per TD Pass
- Former Arizona Basketball Star Allonzo Trier Remarkably Efficient Lately
- Arizona Coyotes: How Coach Rick Tocchet Sparked His Offense
- Arizona State Basketball Has Two Transfers Ready to Compete
Similar to Monday night’s game, the Coyotes managed to cut the deficit from two goals to one goal in the third period, but also similar to Monday’s game, the Coyotes were unable to net the equalizer.
Jordan Martinook netted the Coyotes lone goal of the evening just 4:06 into the 3rd period. Shane Doan won a face-off in the offensive zone and sent the puck straight back to Michael Stone at the point, who proceeded to rifle a shot on net. The shot was deflected by Martinook on the way to the net and found its way past Lightning back-up goalie Andrei Vasilevsky.
It was the only blemish on Vasilevsky’s terrific night in net. Vasilevsky finished with 29 saves on the Coyotes 30 shots and improved his record on the season to 10-5-0. It was the 2012 1st round draft pick’s best performance since late-January after allowing five goals and four goals in his previous two appearances in February.
Louis Domingue continued his strong play, but once more was unable to collect two points for his club. Domingue saved 34 of the 36 shots he faced, falling to 12-11-4 on the year. He has finished with 30+ saves in three consecutive games now with 39 against the Stars, 35 against the Capitals, and 34 against the Lightning.
After an 0-for-6 night against the Capitals on the power play, the Coyotes finished 0-for-1 on Tuesday night on the power play, while also allowing the short-handed goal to Paquette.
Next: Coyotes Fall Short to Capitals, lose 3-2
The Coyotes will have their third stop on their five game road trip on Thursday night when they take on the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center. Puck-drop will be at 5:30 p.m. MST and Coyotes fans can tune into the game on Fox Sports Arizona.