In Ottawa, the visiting Arizona Coyotes finally snapped their losing skid on Friday night with a 5-3 win over the Senators. “I feel loose in my suit suddenly. I lost weight in the last 30 minutes,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “I feel relief, I will say. I don’t know exactly how to describe it, to be honest with you. We felt we deserved better [in] a lot of those games. We feel, as well, we’re guilty of, after the All-Star break, we had a slow start, but we didn’t feel we were as bad as we have been. We know we’re a better team, we’re a good team, and if we play well, we can beat anybody in the League.”
It was not easy. The Coyotes took a 3-1 lead in the first period, and proceeded to blow that advantage in the middle frame.
Arizona scored twice in the third to take the win.
Karel Vejmelka made 34 saves in the win.
“Everybody has wanted to win for a long time,” Vejmelka said. “It tastes special for us, for now. A lot of emotions for us. I’m glad and happy for the team. We finally did it.”
The Coyotes moved to 24-31-5.
Arizona broke out to a 3-0 lead in the opening stanza.
Michael Carcone staked the Coyotes to a 1-0 lead at 7:31 of the first, scoring off a rebound. games.
J.J. Moser pushed the advantage to 2-0 at 12:39 with a shot from the left side.
Nick Schmaltz, hit off the power play at 15:37 to stretch the early lead to 3-0.
The Senators stopped the run with a strike by Vladimir Tarasenko with 1:51 left in the first for a 3-1 deficit for Ottawa headed to the middle frame.
“I just think we’re fighting back too much lately,” Tarasenko said. “We need to find a way to start games better, like, on time. Some nights you’re able to come back and feel nice, but some nights it’s not going to work every time.”
The Senators dropped to 25-30-3 off their third straight loss.
“I thought we worked hard, but we’ve got to be ready at the start,” Ottawa interim coach Jacques Martin said. “We had some guys that weren’t ready to play.”
In the second period, the Coyotes lost all of the momentum from the opening stanza and surrendered two goals to the Senators.
Drake Batherson trimmed the deficit to 3-2 at 13:49 of the middle frame, scoring off rebound at the crease.
Ottawa;s Shane Pinto potted a power play marker at 15:52 for a 3-3 tie headed headed to the third.
In the third period, the Coyotes regained their footing, especially on the defensive side of the game, and hit for a pair of goals while holding the Sens scoreless.
“I’ve played on winning teams, and you don’t win in the long run if you don’t go through adversity and bumps along the way,” Guenther said. “It just doesn’t happen. I think you remember that feeling. We’ll remember this. We’re just not going to look back from here.”
Michael Carcone reclaimed the lead for the Coyotes, 4-3, at 4:18, hitting off the power play.
“It’s [big] for everybody,” Tourigny said. “For coaches, management, our fans, our media, everybody. You want to be in a winning environment, you want to have success. I think everybody will be happy and we’ll have a great day off tomorrow.”
Arizona sealed the first win in 15 games when Matias Maccelli hit an empty net with 75 seconds left on the regulation clock for the 5-3 final count on the scoreboard.
Anton Forsberg made 26 saves in the loss.
“We’ve got to be ready from the start,” Forsberg said. “It’s been a few games where it’s been a tough start. We’ve got to try and work on getting the first goal there. It’s always easier to play [with] a lead and not chase from behind all the time.”
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