In Tempe, the Coyotes’ woes continued on Thursday night a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
It was their seventh straight loss.
Brady Tkachuk and Derick Brassard scored in the first period for a 2-0 lead and the Coyotes chased the game for the rest of the match.
“With our team, there’s a lot of guys that, after one shift, you get a lot of chemistry from, a lot of chances,” Tkachuk said. “I love playing with them, and I feel like we had a lot of great looks tonight.”
Anton Forsberg made 26 saves in the Ottawa win. that snapped a two-game skid.
“You don’t want long losing streaks,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. “I think this team’s capable of having some kind of run, whether it’s now or whenever. Every win in this League gives you a bit of confidence, especially on the road.”
The Senators moved to 19-19-3.
Arizona skated most of the game with 10 forwards and seven defensemen after Clayton Keller was called for a match penalty.
“It’s a tough situation to lose a good player early in the game like that,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “But the way the guys responded to it was really good. … We fought hard. I just wish we had a defended a little better. We didn’t find a way to get out of that slump.”
The Coyotes are now 3-7-0 in their last 10, and dropped to 13-23-5.
“We’re going through a tough stretch right now, and we’ve got to crack it,” Arizona forward Lawson Crouse said. “It’s frustrating going through this right now, no one’s happy about it.”
Arizona’s Dylan Guenther had a power play goal to cut the deficit to 2-1 in the middle frame.
“I’m just trying to use that momentum from the World Juniors, play with a little more confidence,” Guenther said “You go there, you touch the puck more, play in more situations, and I’m coming back and trying to play like that here.”
But Alex DeBrincat made 3-1 in the second period.
In the third, Lawson Crouse cut the lead back down to one, 3-2, early in the period.
“We probably could have scored three or four early in the third, and they get one chance and it goes in,” Smith said. “It tests your mettle a little bit. But to their credit, the guys stayed with it and found a way to win.”
The two teams traded goals throughout the third, with the Coyotes unable to track down the tying strike.
Ottawa’s Mark Kastelic made it 4-2 near the midway point of the period,
“I’ve been looking forward to this trip for a long time, there was the build-up to the game and it all kind of came together, and we got the two points,” Kastelic said. “It felt extra special.”
Arizona replied with a goal from Barrett Hayton to make it 4-3, but Ottawa had one more response on a marker form Artem Zub into an empty net for the 5-3 final.
Karel Vejmelka made 42 saves in the loss.
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