Arizona Coyotes Drop Fifth Straight Game Against Dallas

The Arizona Coyotes lost their fifth straight game, falling to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night

The Arizona Coyotes continue to struggle.

In front a larger than usual crowd on Student Rush night at Gila River Arena in Glendale, the Coyotes fell to the Dallas Stars, 3-2, making it five straight losses.

The Coyotes (11-19-5) came into the night looking to get their first win on their current three game home stand. The Stars (15-14-7) came into Gila River Arena on a delayed schedule following mechanical issues with the team charter, that landed them in Phoenix at 2:00 PM. They arrived at the arena at 4:50, just about two hours prior to puck drop. But they still found a way to chip out a victory over Arizona.

The first period did not see much action at all. There were no penalties and the shots were 7-5, Dallas.

Things were quite different when the second period got underway.

Jason Spezza started the scoring for the Stars as he converted on a short-handed goal, his seventh of the season, to give the Stars the upper hand. It was only the third shorthanded goal in his 14-year career.

Just 49 seconds later, Anthony Duclair finally broke his slump and converted for his first goal in 22 games. It was only his second goal on the season.

The goal came off a broken play, which resulted in Duclair whacking away at Kari Lehtonen’s pads until the puck crossed the line, tying the game at 1.

Stars captain and second leading scorer, Jamie Benn, gave the Stars the lead at the 12:03 mark of the period. The dangerous forward power play unit of Spezza, Benn and Tyler Seguin ended up haunting the Coyotes all night long.

Seguin’s shot was a slap pass that ended up on Benn’s stick and he tapped the puck past Mike Smith, who finished the night with 26 saves.

But above the scoring and solid play from the Stars, it was Mike Smith who stole the show on Tuesday night.

Inside two minutes of the second period, Radek Faksa went in for a rebound as Smith covered the puck, and Smith shoved Faksa in the face, causing a yard sale on the ice.

At one point Smith even yelled, “You want to go?”

Smith has become notorious for playing with fire and defending himself when he really has to. He dropped his glove and blocker and was ready to start throwing hay-makers at Faksa.

Faksa, who had a smile on his face throughout the whole process, never received a punch from Smith, as the referees stepped in to make sure further madness didn’t ensue.

At the end of the whole mess, a total of 18 penalty minutes were assessed, four of which were Smith’s.

His attempt to spark the Arizona Coyotes heading into the third period did not work.

The Stars stepped all over the Coyotes in the third period, and capped it off with an unfortunate bounce off the boards that ended up going into the empty net. John Klingberg for Dallas got credit for the goal.