Minnesota Wild trump Arizona Coyotes in shootout: By the Numbers
Dec 14, 2014, 4:33 AM | Updated: 7:34 am
What can the Arizona Coyotes do to get a win at home?
They can start by getting a lead on their opponent, which did happen Saturday night at Gila River.
The next step is holding onto said lead, which didn’t happen against the Minnesota Wild, although the two teams did go to overtime.
Neither club was able to add to its three goals in the extra five minutes, so a shootout ensued.
The Wild got the best of Coyotes goaltender Devan Dubnyk in the shootout, winning the round 2-1 and claiming a 4-3 victory in Glendale.
Arizona (10-16-4) ended a skid of four outright losses, but its winless streak extended to five. Dave Tippett’s group has been stuck on 10 wins since Dec. 1.
Minnesota improved to 16-11-1 with the win, putting them 10th place in the entire Western Conference.
Here’s a look at Saturday’s extended game, by the numbers:
2
Center Antoine Vermette scored his second goal in as many games, his second time scoring in back-to-back outings this season. The 32-year-old Canadian now has eight tallies on the season. He was also responsible for the Coyotes’ lone shootout goal.
3 (part I)
Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson completed a one-timer on a power play for the Coyotes’ first goal of the game, his third score in his last six outings. The five-year pro now has six goals on the season, and he picked up his eighth assist on Vermette’s second-period tally.
3 (part II)
The Wild had scored just one power play goal on the road before Saturday. Not even three minutes into the contest, they connected on their second, and in the third period, they added another. Minnesota was 2-for-3 with a man advantage on the evening, while Arizona was 1-for-3.
9
Arizona’s winless streak at Gila River Arena extended to nine with the overtime loss. The team hasn’t won at home since Nov. 4 against Toronto. Saturday was the third overtime loss of the Coyotes’ nine-game home skid. In addition to their overall five-game winless skid, they have lost eight of their last nine contests.
11
Left wing Mikkel Boedker picked up an assist on both of the Coyotes’ first two goals of the game. He leads Arizona in overall goals with nine, and thanks to his pair of assists, he now has a team-leading 11 points at home this season.
24
Although it wasn’t a win, the Coyotes did pick up their 24th point of the season, their first since the calendar flipped to December. The team is five points ahead of Edmonton for last place in the conference, and it is two points behind Colorado for the next spot up.
40-28
Arizona dominated the hits category for the second-straight game, posting a 40-28 advantage over the Wild. The Coyotes also did well in faceoffs Saturday, winning that battle 34-25. The only major category they lost was shots on goal, which went 35-30 in Minnesota’s favor.
.914
Dubnyk came into the game tied for 13th in the league with a save percentage of .918. He came pretty close to that mark Saturday, stopping 32 of 35 shots against him for a percentage of .914. Unfortunately, the Wild got the best of him on both of their shootout opportunities, and they didn’t even need a third chance after Arizona’s Tobias Rieder missed wide to end the shootout and the game.