In Tempe, the Coyotes lost their 11th straight on Wednesday, this time to the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-3.
The Coyotes are going in the wrong direction after a solid start to the campaign.
Auston Matthews hit for a double to make it 51 goals on the season.
He set a record for the fastest to 50 by a US-born skater.
“I’m very grateful to be in the position I’m in,” said Matthews, a Phoenix metro area native. “Whatever I can do to keep that going, I want to do it.”
Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves in the win.
The Maple Leafs moved to 31-16-8 off their fifth straight win.
The Coyotes fell behind early, and never really were able to even chase the game.
Bobby McMann scored with two minutes gone in the opening stanza for a 1-0 lead to the Maple Leafs.
“We’re not beating ourselves,” Marner said. “We’re making sure we’re making the good plays, the right plays. We’ve really done a good job of slowing down transitions and odd-man rushes against us … [and we’ve been] a dangerous team.”
Matthews connected on his first of the game, for his 50th, off the power play at 5:01.
“I kind of expected him to score 50 today, the way he’s been scoring this season,” the Maple Leafs Timothy Liljegren said. “And good for him, probably a lot of family here. A huge moment, and good for him.”
William Nylander also hit for a double for the Leafs, his first came at at 15:27of the first for a 3-0 lead..
The Coyotes dropped to 23-29-4
“We need to put aside the distraction, the noise and focus on the process of what we have to do [to win],” coach Andre Tourigny said. “Our discipline in the first period cost us the game, basically, and we weren’t able to go toe-to-toe with them.”
In the middle frame, the Coyotes got one back on a marker form Matias Maccelli at 4:28 to make it 3-1.
Barrett Hayton then scored at 5:38 on a deflection to trim the deficit to 3-2 for the Coyotes.
However, Matthews collected his double at 16:07 off a crazy series of mid-air deflection for his 5-1st of the campaign and a4-2 lead to Toronto.
“Auston’s been doing tremendous things,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said.
Dylan Guenther hit off the power play with seven seconds left in the middle frame for a -3 score to the Leafs headed to the third period.
Nylander collected his double two minutes into the third for a 5-3 advantage to Toronto.
“That was a tough one that broke our legs,” Tourigny said. “I thought we showed a lot of character in the second (period), but that was a killer goal.”
John Tavares scored hit a single marker at 8:24 for the 6-3 final count on the scoreboard.
“It’s a small step in a long season but … it was a good effort throughout the lineup, everybody contributing and just really solid efforts all around,” Matthews said, “so we’ll take the two points.”
Karel Vejmelka made 30 saves in the loss.
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