The Coyotes showed passion and resilience in their 2-1 loss to the Canucks on Thursday night as they went toe-to-toe against the top team in the Western Conference.
The Arizona Coyotes lose 2-1 against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night marking the end to their three-game road trip.
Arizona was coming off an emotional 3-2 overtime loss to Calgary Flames on Tuesday where they blew a two-goal lead late in the contest.
The Canucks are statistically the best team in the Western Conference and they showed it in the first period as they dominated puck possession and were completely outskating the Coyotes.
Despite being outshot 14-4 through the first 20 minutes, a late Travis Dermott goal tied the game at one and gave the Coyotes some much needed momentum.
In the second period, the Coyotes looked like a completely different team. They were the ones dominating puck possession while just adding more fight and passion to their game.
However with less than a minute left in the period, Dakota Joshua scored putting the Canucks up 2-1, ultimately serving as the game winning goal.
Arizona put up a solid effort in the third period but were unable to get the puck past Thatcher Demko, leading to a loss.
The Coyotes may have not gotten the win, but should still be proud of their performance. They went toe-to-toe against arguably the hottest team in the NHL and actually outplayed them at certain points.
“We played hard, we played solid…” André Tourigny said. “My feeling after the first period was that was the best team we played. They were fast, hard on the puck, they played well, they are structured. We got better during the game, every shift. I think our guys worked extremely hard, we had good puck pressure, we defended really hard. I think we played rock solid on five-on-five.”
Throughout the night, Arizona seemed unfazed by the blazing speed of the Canucks and when the game got physical, they embraced it rather than running away from it.
Connor Ingram also had another phenomenal performance in a losing effort. He made 24 stops and was rock solid especially on the penalty kill
Against the top teams in the league, the Coyotes continue to show that they can hang around and are capable of pulling off wins.
This was a good moral victory, but with another loss the Coyotes continue to slip in the Western Conference wild card race, so they will need to get back on track fast before it’s too late.
The Coyotes return to action on Saturday afternoon at Mullett Arena against the Nashville Predators.