Pavelski's hat trick leads Sharks past Coyotes
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The remaining 36 games of the Coyotes' season are going to feel like Broadway auditions. There will be plenty of promising actors, an excess of energy and the inevitable flops.
All three were on display in San Jose's 4-2 win on Friday at Gila River Arena. The Coyotes grabbed the lead just 1:42 into the game when newest team member Mark Arcobello scored on his first shift, making him just the second player in NHL history to record points with four teams in one season.
Martin Erat gave the Coyotes a 2-0 lead off a great feed from Sam Gagner on a first-period power play. But the youthful Coyotes couldn't sustain the effort.
Coyote killer Joe Pavelski scored a pair of second-period goals, Barclay Goodrow netted the game-winner and Pavelski added an empty netter for his ninth goal in his last seven games against the Coyotes.
"I thought we battled hard," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "We just couldn't come up with that next goal we needed."
Goalie Mike Smith's stats won't say it, but he played well against in stopping 22 of 25 shots. It was just the second time in nine starts since the All-Star break that Smith did not post a save percentage of .920 or higher, but the Sharks tested him.
"It was a pretty even game all the way through, but I'd like to see us capitalize on a couple more chances," said Tippett, whose team was held to two goals or fewer for the fourth time in its last five games. "We had a lead, but in the first period, they had two breakaways that Smitty made some great saves on."
San Jose clawed within one on a lucky break early in the second period. Pavelski's centering feed to center Logan Couture banked off Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson's skate and slipped through Smith to cut the lead to 2-1 just 27 seconds into the period.
Pavelski tied it later in the period when he ripped a shot just under the cross bar from inside the faceoff circle at the 13:09 mark on a power play.
It was just the fifth power-play goal the Coyotes have allowed since Jan. 15 (42-47, 89.4 percent) and it erased a two-goal lead.
COYOTES vs. RANGERS
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Gila River Arena, Glendale
TV: FOX Sports Arizona
Injuries: Arizona F Mikkel Boedker (splenectomy) is out indefinitely. C Martin Hanzal (back) will undergo surgery next week and is likely out for the year. C Joe Vitale (upper body) is day to day and could play. F Alex Bolduc (mid-body) is day to day. New York: F Jesper Fast (knee) is out two to three weeks and G Henrik Lundqvist (neck) is on injured reserve.
Quick facts: Rangers F Mats Zuccarello is riding a career-high seven-game point streak (four goals, five assists). … F Rick Nash ranks amongst the NHL's top 10 in goals (34, first), goals per game (.64, first), even-strength goals (25, first), games with a goal (27, first), short-handed goals (four, T-first), takeaways (51, fourth), shots on goal (200, fourth), plus/minus (plus-24, T-fourth), points (54, T- sixth) and game-winning goals (five, T- eighth). … F Martin St. Louis has 13 points (six goals) in his last 11 games against Arizona.
"It happens a lot but you've got to minimize the amount of times that happens," Arcobello said. "It was still 2-2 at that point and we were still in the game. It's a tough league and you've got to continue for 60 minutes."
Goodrow scored the game-winner on a 2-on-1 when defenseman Andrew Campbell tried to hold a bouncing puck in at the far blue line and missed. Goodrow beat Smith high to the short side at the 6:23 mark and Pavelski added his 31st goal of the season into an empty net.
"Their D-man rimmed it around the boards and it's my read to go down there and the puck was bouncing all over the place," Campbell said of Goodrow's goal. "I went down on one knee to keep it in and it took a bounce, went through my arm and they went the other way."
The win gave Sharks coach Todd McLellan victory No. 300 in his 515th game behind the bench. Only Bruce Boudreau (Washington, Anaheim) reached 300 wins faster, accomplishing the feat in 496 games.
"Three hundred is just a small number when you look at the wins so many others have got," McLellan said. "The important number for us tonight was 29 because that's the win column."
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