The Arizona Coyotes need to wake up from their deep sleep on this road trip before it's too late.
The first two road games against the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadians weren't even close. The last game against the New York Islanders was a one-goal game, but the go-ahead goal was given up while on the power play. In four games they have now allowed two short-handed tallies.
That trend, carried over from last season when they gave up 14 short-handed goals, is not a good omen.
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For this game against the New York Rangers, the Arizona Coyotes' scratches were: Dylan Strome, Kevin Cannuaton, and Jamie McBain. Jamie McGinn and Mike Smith remained injured.
Louis Domingue got the call to start between the pipes.
Both teams find back of the net in the first period facts
The visiting Coyotes struck first and fast when Radim Vrbata scored his second goal on deflection of a Connor Murphy blast from the right point, at :33.
The Rangers came back to tie the score at one when Josh Jooris won a battle in the crease to get one by Domingue.
The Coyotes were outshot 10-8 in the period, but looked much better in their own zone, and defended adequately.
There was only one penalty on the Coyotes' Alex Goligoski at 9:34 for hooking.
The period ended with a 1-1 tie.
Trading goals in the second
The Rangers scored the go-ahead goal at 5:45 when J.T. Miller got his second goal of the young campaign with a power play goal. Domingue really had no chance on the shot as it came from just over the blue-line right down the slot. Miller deflected it, but Domingue was screened.
Young Jakob Chychrun of the Coyotes was called for hooking at 4:24, giving the hometown Rangers the man advantage. His play continues to impress.
Then, the Coyotes got back into the tight contest when Vrbata received a perfect pass from Max Domi in the high slot. Vrbata one-timed it on Henrik Lindqvist's stick side to even the game. It was the 33rd time Vrbata has had multi-goal games in his career.
The Coyotes were pressuring Lindqvist through most of the period, as evident by their 13 shots on goal. But, the Rangers helped their goaltender immensely by blocking shots before they reached him. After two periods the Rangers managed to block 19 shots on net.
The second period score was tied 2-2 when the clock ran down.
Rangers take advantage in third
The Rangers forged ahead at 1:55 of the third with another long shot from the right post by Dan Girardi. It wasn't clear why Domingue couldn't handle the shot, but it gave the lead to the Rangers early.
Domingue managed to keep the Rangers off the scoreboard with a couple of outstanding saves.
As was the case on their 3-2 loss to the Islanders on Friday night, the Coyotes gave a valiant effort to tie the game by pulling their goalie, but the results were the same -- a loss.
That means the Coyotes now sport a meager 1-4 record this new season, and must find a way to break out of this downfall. Their next chance to do that will be Tuesday night when they clash with the New Jersey Devils.
Coach's comments
Head Coach/V.P of Hockey Operations Dave Tippett held his post game press conference, and here's what he had to say about his teams' effort tonight.
"Lots of try in our group, but you know we're giving up three goals now...we gotta find a way to be better defensively. We gave up some chances after we got down, for the most part there's some real good parts of our game but, good parts of your game doesn't get you a win, we need to find a way to win."
Asked about the third New York goal, Tippett replied:
"It changes the whole tone of the game, you're chasing the game then you know if you're in a 2-2 game and it's really a nothing play, I don't know if the puck just dropped on him or what, you got a team that played last night, you keep the pressure on them, but then they can play a real nice comfortable game when they're up a goal."