Dylan Guenther scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period as the visiting Arizona Coyotes snapped a 14-game winless skid with a 5-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Friday.
Arizona’s Matias Maccelli collected a goal and two assists and Nick Schmaltz, Michael Carcone, J.J. Moser and Guenther had one of each. Schmaltz had one of his team’s two power-play goals and won 10 of 13 faceoff draws.
Karel Vejmelka made 34 saves for the Coyotes, who snapped a 0-12-2 record after their last win — a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 22. Friday’s win prevented the team from matching the franchise record for the longest winless streak in a season, which was set by the then-Phoenix Coyotes in 2003-04.
Ottawa’s Vladimir Tarasenko and Shane Pinto each recorded a goal and an assist and Drake Batherson also scored to extend his goal-scoring streak to four games. Anton Forsberg turned aside 26 shots for the Senators, who have lost three in a row after a 3-0-1 stretch.
With Ridly Greig serving a hooking penalty, Guenther gave Arizona a 4-3 lead at 4:18 of the third period. Guenther settled a centering feed from Schmaltz and wired a sharp wrist shot from the slot past Forsberg for Guenther’s seventh goal of the season.
Carcone scored from the right circle and Moser tallied from the left before Schmaltz added his team-leading 10th power-play goal of the season to stake Arizona to an early 3-0 lead.
Tarasenko scored on a one-timer from a sharp angle deep in the right circle to trim the Coyotes’ lead to 3-1 with 1:51 remaining in the first period. Tarasenko’s goal was his 16th of the season and first since Feb. 19.
Batherson cleaned up a rebound in front to halve the deficit with 6:11 remaining in the second period. Batherson’s goal was his 21st of the season.
With his team on the power play, Pinto’s sharp wrist shot from the right circle tied the score 2:03 later.
–Field Level Media
