Coyotes take on Panthers with sense of urgency

By foxsports
Published

The Arizona Coyotes are in the midst of a three-game losing streak that has sent them eight points behind Colorado in the battle for a Western Conference playoff berth.

With 60 games down and 22 remaining, they know time and opportunities are precious. They have three games in hand on the Avalanche, but they'll have to start making up ground soon.

"We're running out of games here," said rookie Jordan Martinook, who had the only goal for the Coyotes (27-27-6) in Tuesday night's 2-1 loss at Tampa Bay. "The teams that we're chasing are winning. Sometimes you can work hard but you're not getting the results. We need to come out against Florida and play as desperate as we can."

The first opportunity comes Thursday night against the surprising Florida Panthers (34-18-7), who have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.

The game can be seen on FOX Sports Arizona Plus, starting at 5 p.m.

This is the middle game of a five-game, eight-day road trip for the Coyotes. The first two outcomes were 1-point losses to a pair of the Eastern Conference's top teams: Washington and Tampa Bay.

"We have to find a way to generate more scoring chances," general manager Don Maloney told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. "We're not throwing a towel in. We still have lots of hockey to be played. We have 22 games left, and we're still chasing a playoff spot. We have to start winning our games."

The Coyotes are 6-1-1 in their last eight games against the Panthers and 9-3-2 since the 2003-04 season, but the teams have yet to play this season. A rematch will take place in Glendale on March 5.

Florida is 3-3-2 in its last eight games but will get some reinforcements against the Coyotes with the return  of Aleksander Barkov and Erik Gudbranson. Barkov scored in four consecutive games and had at least a point in six straight before he was hit in the head illegally by Detroit's Justin Abdelkader in a loss Feb. 8. Gudbranson hasn't played since Feb. 4 because of an upper-body injury.

Jonathan Huberdeau will not play after suffering an upper-body injury on Saturday.

Thursday's game is notable in that the leading goal scorer for each team are two of the NHL's senior citizens.

For Florida, 44-year-old Jaromir Jagr leads the team in goals (20) and points (43). For Arizona, 39-year-old Shane Doan has a team-high 22 goals to go with 13 assists.

Jagr has three goals in his last two games to move ahead of Brett Hull for third on the NHL's scoring list with 742 goals, trailing only Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe.

"I don't really think about it. I wanted to make sure I played a little bit better," Jagr said. "There's a million people who wanted to be in my position. If I can play in the NHL, why not keep going?"

The Coyotes have gotten a lot of offensive punch from their defensive corps. Oliver Ekman-Larsson leads the team in power-play goals (11 of his 17), assists (29) and points (46). Ekman-Larsson and Michael Stone (4-23-27) have already set single-season career highs for scoring, and Kevin Connauton has three goals and two assists in his past five games. Arizona's 39 goals scored by its defensemen is the second-highest total in the league, behind Nashville's 41.