Coyotes earn important win vs. Stars

[February 19, 2016]  GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Coyotes are viewing their seven remaining games before the Feb. 29 trade deadline as a pivotal stretch. If they can stay in the playoff hunt, general manager Don Maloney said he would like to help the group with a couple additions. If they fall out of contention, the Coyotes will likely become minor sellers.

Arizona knew the sledding would be tough since those games featured four teams among the NHL's top six in points (Dallas, St. Louis, Washington and Florida), along with defending Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

The Coyotes got off to a good start on Thursday at Gila River Arena. Left winger Max Domi had a goal and two assists, right winger Anthony Duclair had three assists and the Coyotes scored six goals for the second straight game in a 6-3 win over the Stars.

"That was a big win for sure because that's a really good hockey team out there," said Domi, who scored for the first time since Jan. 12 against Edmonton. "The really took it to us for the first 10, 11, 12 minutes and we were on our heels, but we found a way to get our legs going."

Goaltender Louis Domingue made 36 saves for Arizona, which won its second straight game and is now within four points of Nashville and Colorado for the Western Conference's two wild card spots.

The loss was just the third in the last 10 games for Dallas (7-2-1), which got goals from left winger Jamie Benn, center Tyler Seguin, right winger Ales Hemsky and 36 saves from Antti Niemi, but has allowed at least six goals in a game seven times this season.

"I thought as defense corps we struggled," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "It started in the first period. We didn't keep it simple and it snowballed from there."

Dallas jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 9:38 mark of the first period off a turnover in the Stars zone. Benn stripped Coyotes center Brad Richardson of the puck and caught defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson pinching to keep the puck in the zone. Benn fed right winger Patrick Sharp for a two-on-one with Seguin. Sharp fed Seguin in stride in the right wing, and the NHL's third-leading goal-scorer buried his 31st of the year on a shot high to the stick side.

The Coyotes' dynamic rookie duo tied the game 3:33 into the second period on a play that was indicative of the Coyotes' speed in the game. After center Martin Hanzal forced a turnover in the Arizona end and pushed the puck to rookie Duclair. Duclair spotted rookie Domi streaking up the wing and hit him in stride. Domi got around Stars defenseman Jason Demers, deked Niemi to his knees and tucked the puck in the far side of the net for his 14th goal of the season.

Dallas took the lead on a power play after Coyotes left winger Kyle Chipchura went off for hooking. Stars right winger Jason Spezza collected the puck behind the net and slid a backdoor feed to Benn, who buried it in the open side at 13:02 of the second period. It was Benn's 30th goal of the season.

The Coyotes tied it at 2-2 just 51 seconds later when defenseman Michael Stone's shot from the point deflected off two sticks and found its way past Niemi through a screen set by Hanzal.

Domi added his second goal of the night at 18:26 of the second period, but it was Duclair who did all the work, outmuscling and outskating a pair of Stars to get to the net and put a shot off Niemi's pad. The rebound came to a hard-charging Domi with a yawning net, and he banged it in for a 3-2 lead.

"We were buzzing around all night," Duclair said. "There was a lot of back and forth skating which worked out well. We like to use our speed and our skill."

Arizona widened the lead to 4-2 on a power play when Hanzal won a draw to Ekman-Larsson, who got the puck to the net. Niemi kicked out the rebound and Hanzal banged it past him for his 10th goal of the season.

Dallas answered when right winger Hemsky beat Domingue on a wraparound at 8:33 of the third period to cut the lead to 4-3. But Arizona answered 41 seconds after that when Chipchura threaded a perfect pass between two Dallas defenders to spring rookie center Tyler Gaudet on a partial breakaway. Gaudet beat Niemi between the pads for his first NHL goal at 9:14.

Center Antoine Vermette added an empty-net goal for Arizona.

With the loss, Dallas remained one point behind Chicago in the Central Division with two games in hand.

"They were definitely better than us tonight," Benn said. "They skated harder and worked harder. It's just embarrassing and unacceptable."

NOTES: Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said G Mike Smith (lower abdomen surgery) and C Boyd Gordon (hand) will accompany the team on its five-game road trip next week. Smith should resume practicing with the team next week and Gordon is coming along to maintain his conditioning. ... Stars RW Jason Spezza (upper body) returned to the lineup after missing the last six games. ... Coyotes RW Viktor Tikhonov returned to the lineup after a four-game absence as a healthy scratch. D Nicklas Grossmann and Jarred Tinordi were the scratches.

[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.