After a tough offensive start to the season, Barrett Hayton finally scored his first goal of the season on Tuesday night against the Seattle Kraken in what was game 12 of the year. While all seemed to be going great for the Coyotes first line of Hayton, Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz, Hayton still struggled to record a single point. The 23-year-old center was playing a valuable role on the first wave of the power play while never being afraid to get his hands dirty in front of the net or while fighting along the boards. However, his zero points on the stat sheet was glaring and very noticeable through the first eleven games of the season. Hayton knew his time to score would come but overall he is a team player that is less focused on individual success and more determined to impact the group’s success. “Obviously it’s a thing, at the same time these are such critical games right now and wanted to get off to a good start as a team so that personal stuff comes second,” Hayton said. “You want to focus on having a complete game, having an impact on games like I mentioned before, kind of that group success. Barrett Hayton spoke with the media after scoring his first goal of the season on Tuesday night. “At the same time, I am a competitor, I want to produce, I want to score but it’s so early. You go through spells and stuff like that, keeping the main focus on the group… Obviously it’s on your mind but you have to keep the main thing, the main thing.” Hayton scored his first goal deflecting Keller’s shot on the power play. Despite maybe saying that his individual performance is his second priority, for any young player not scoring for eleven straight games is frustrating so this must be a huge weight lifted off the shoulders of Hayton. “It felt great,” Hayton said. “It’s a lot of weight off your shoulder. Obviously, it was nice to see the boys happy for me and all that they obviously knew how much I wanted it. I definitely feel good.” Last season, Hayton didn’t score his first goal until December and then ended the season with a total of 19 goals. Now that he has his first goal, Hayton could now just play freely without that burden on his mind which should help him tremendously. Hayton is the team’s first line center arguably the most important role in hockey so potentially getting his offensive touch back will be huge for the Coyotes going forward. Who knows, maybe this is all Hayton needed to boost his confidence and regain that spark offensively.
