The Coyotes showed heart and resilience, coming back from a three-goal deficit against the Senators as they continue to prove what kind of team they are.
Anything is possible, especially at Mullett Arena.
What seemed like a nightmare of a night turned into arguably the Coyotes most impressive win of the season as they rallied back to defeat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 on Tuesday night.
Going into Tuesday’s matchup, the Coyotes won two-consecutive games in a row, but were forced to face a Senators team that just recently fired their head coach, D.J. Smith. Jacques Martin is now the new interim coach and if history tells us anything, teams always get a little bit of a boost when playing for a new coach.
The Senators would score three goals in the first period and all seemed lost for Arizona who pulled Connor Ingram mid-way through the period in-favor of Karel Vejmelka.
To Vejmelka’s credit, he calmed everyone down with his impressive play and the score remained 3-0 after the end of the first period.
Despite being down 3-0 after the first 20 minutes of play, the Coyotes actually seemed to outplay Ottawa, leading 12-7 in shots while maintaining strong puck possession.
Arizona continued playing their game in the second period and finally were able to get on the scoresheet in the form of a Jack McBain goal. This was McBain’s first goal since coming back from a lower-body injury which sidelined him for over a month.
After 40 minutes, the Coyotes trailed 3-1. While they were playing well, it would take a gutsy performance to rally back in the third.
Gutsy is not even enough to describe Arizona’s performance in the final period.
They came out with a vengeance firing every puck to the net and completely dominated, spending what seemed like practically the entire period in the Senators zone.
The floodgates tore open when J.J. Moser scored 9:14 into the period and not even one minute later Clayton Keller got on the board tying the game at three a piece.
At this point the Coyotes had all the momentum and continued to put their foot on the gas pedal. All their pressure paid off as with a few minutes remaining Michael Kesselring scored, capping off what was a miraculous comeback.
The atmosphere felt different. Mullett Arena was electric, almost having a playoff type feel despite only holding about 5,000 fans.
The players fed off of all of the fans' energy which was just beautiful to watch. For once, Coyotes fans finally have something to root for and be excited about.
This team has shown time and time again their ability to put their heads down and come back from lost causes.
It’s safe to say that this team is not a fluke. The Coyotes will still go through some lows because it's a long season, but the way that they play is a testament to their culture.
André Tourigny is the perfect coach for the Coyotes while the locker room consists of talented young players and veterans who want to be a part of what the organization is continuing to build.
Arizona currently holds the second wild card spot in the Western Conference with a 16-13-2 record and 34 points. They are also now on a three-game winning streak.
You can call it Mullett Magic, but give the Coyotes credit because they truly deserve all of it after a performance of this magnitude.