Stars Defeat Coyotes
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GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Dallas Stars hadn’t suffered through an eight-game winless streak since moving to Dallas in 1993. Ryan Garbutt made sure they didn’t get there on Tuesday in Arizona.
Garbutt flipped a puck up the boards and scored on a short-handed breakaway with 1:16 remaining in regulation to help the Stars snap an 0-5-2 skid with a 4-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena.
“It’s nice to get off the schneid,” Garbutt said. “I was just trying to hold onto it and make sure I cleared it. I didn’t have anyone really come to me so I just chipped it to myself and skated as fast as I could.”
The Stars’ response came after coach Lindy Ruff called out his best players at Tuesday’s practice for a lack of leadership. Dallas had been outscored 21-9 in the third period this season and had slipped to the bottom of the Western Conference standings during this skid. But the Stars broke a tie on left winger Erik Cole’s fourth goal of the season with 4:41 remaining in regulation to give Dallas a 3-2 lead.
Coyotes left winger Mikkel Boedker scored his sixth of the season and first in his last 12 games just 58 seconds later to tie the game at 3-3. But with Dallas right winger Patrick Eaves off for
high-sticking Coyotes defenseman Zbynek Michalek in the face, Garbutt flipped the puck around flat-footed Arizona defenseman Keith Yandle before going to his forehand to beat Coyotes goalie Mike Smith for the game winner.
“It’s a big win,” Ruff said. “I have to give the guys a lot of credit for fighting through it. It could have been another game where it turns and goes the wrong direction for us.”
It looked that way early. Defenseman Connor Murphy gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead just 1:42 into the game when his seemingly harmless wrist shot from the point somehow eluded Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen and found the upper corner of the net. It was Murphy’s second goal of the season.
The Coyotes took a 2-0 lead at the 11:06 mark of the second period when another unlikely goal scorer, center Joe Vitale, beat Lehtonen with a perfectly placed snapshot off both posts. It was the first goal in nearly a calendar year (and 41 games) for Vitale, who last scored Nov. 30, 2013 against Florida. It also ensured that Dallas had allowed at least two goals in every game this season.
It appeared the Coyotes were in control, but Dallas center Tyler Seguin got the Stars on the board with 2:01 left in the second period. After failing on a wraparound attempt, Seguin collected the rebound of defenseman Jordie Benn’s point shot and lifted it past Smith, who was down after making two saves.
With Murphy off for interference on a penalty Coyotes coach Dave Tippett called “a poor call”, Seguin scored again just 57 seconds later from nearly the same spot where he scored the first goal to even the game at 2-2 after two periods.
Seguin is now tied with New York Rangers forward Rick Nash for the NHL lead with 12 goals.
“If you want to be a playoff team in this league you’d better find ways to put games like that away,” Tippett said.
The power play has been a major culprit in the Coyotes’ inability to do just that. They lost to the New York Islanders, 1-0, on Saturday when their power play went 0-for-5. On Tuesday, it went 0-for-6 and has not scored (0-18) in its last four games. Worse yet, it allowed the shorthanded goal that decided the game on Tuesday.
“The power play is on the ice with two minutes to go; that’s your best players on the ice,” Tippett said. “Are you going to win or you going to lose? I don’t think they thought about losing. It looked like everybody thought they were just going to ice the puck down the ice and we just stood around. That’s frustrating to watch.”
