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 Alex Tanguay, Tobias Rieder, Martin Hanzal and Max Domi scored,
and goalie Mike Smith made 27 saves as the Coyotes extended their
franchise-record points streak against the Oilers to 23 games with a
4-2 win on Tuesday at Gila River Arena.
Arizona is 19-0-4 during the streak and Tippett improved to 24-2-4
against Edmonton in his seven seasons in Arizona. The last time
Arizona lost to Edmonton in regulation was on Jan. 25, 2011.
"I wish I could explain it but I can't," Tippett said. "That's a
team that if you give them a lot of outnumbered chances or give them
easy chances they can really hurt you but Smitty cleaned up a few of
those for us tonight."
Jordan Eberle and Mark Letestu scored for Edmonton, which got 27
saves from Cam Talbot but lost its second straight one-goal game to
fall into the Western Conference cellar.
 "I think from our end we'd like to have the first goal back,"
Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said. "We had missed an assignment on a
faceoff that cost us and we had numerous scoring chances that we
didn't bury. That's probably the difference."
Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson made a quick impact in his
first game back after missing six with a bruised shoulder. Oilers
goalie Cam Talbot couldn't handle Ekman-Larsson's shot from the
point and the rebound bounced to Tanguay at the right post. Tanguay
banged it in for his eighth goal of the season at 5:38 of the first
period.
It was Tanguay's fourth goal in nine games with Arizona since coming
over from Colorado in a trade-deadline deal. The goal broke a
126-minute, 32-second scoring drought for Arizona, which had been
shut out in its last two games.
Ekman-Larsson was on the ice for all four Coyotes goals and was a
plus-3 in the game.
Edmonton tied the game at 9:04 of the first period when former
Coyote Lauri Korpikoski tried to jam the puck in at the far post off
a rebound of Connor McDavid's initial shot. Goalie Mike Smith made a
pair of saves, but the rebound squirted under defenseman Connor
Murphy to Eberle. Eberle tucked it in the open side for 23rd goal of
the season and third in his past five games.
The Coyotes took a 2-1 lead on a power play at 12:22 of the second
period when Hanzal set up a screen in front of Talbot and deflected
Michael Stone's shot from the point off the post and in for his 11th
goal of the season.
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Rieder widened the lead to 3-1 at 17:02 when he cut across the slot
largely uncontested by the Edmonton defense and slipped the puck in
the far side past Talbot.
"I was kind of surprised I got the lane to the net first of all and
then it just kind of stuck to me," said Rieder, who scored just his
second goal in his last 21 games. "It's good to get on the board."
Edmonton answered on a power play at 17:56 with Coyotes captain
Shane Doan off for holding. Defenseman Andrej Sekera sent a
cross-ice pass to Letestu at the top of left circle and Letestu blew
a one-timer past Smith with his own defenseman, Klas Dahlbeck,
screening him to cut the lead to 3-2.
Domi added an empty-net goal for Arizona. Domi, who went 13 games
without a goal, has seven points (five goals) in five games against
the Oilers.
"We battled hard," Letestu said. "We had them hemmed in and in their
zone for a lot of the third period. We just couldn't find that third
one."
NOTES: Oilers C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins left the game in the second
period and did not return after taking a hit to the face from
Coyotes D Connor Murphy. ... Coyotes D Oliver Ekman-Larsson returned
to the lineup after a six-game absence. He sustained a bruised
shoulder March 7 against Colorado while battling for position with
Avalanche C Matt Duchene. ... With Ekman-Larsson back, the Coyotes
reassigned D Philip Samuelsson to Springfield of the American Hockey
League. ... Coyotes G Mike Smith turned 34 on Tuesday. ... Edmonton
tied the NHL record for the longest postseason drought when they
were eliminated from contention Sunday. The Oilers' 10-year drought
matches the Florida Panthers' record set from the 1999-2000 season
to 2011-12. Edmonton hasn't made the playoffs since 2006, when it
lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup finals in seven
games. ... Oilers LW Patrick Maroon missed Tuesday's game with an
undisclosed illness.
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