COYOTES

Coyotes drop 7th straight game in loss to Sharks

Sarah McLellan
azcentral sports
Coyotes' Mark Visentin gets a drink after allowing a goal from Sharks' Joe Pavelski go in during the first period at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, on Saturday, April 12, 2014.

Considering the Coyotes were in contention until the final week of the regular season and will finish at most six points shy of a playoff seed, blame for their demise could be directed at one source.

The six-game losing streak that preceded their elimination Friday by way of a Dallas Stars win while the Coyotes were idle would easily qualify.

But that's simply a smokescreen.

The reasons for the Coyotes' undoing and second straight non-playoff finish are widespread — some of which were still visible in the penultimate game of the season Saturday, a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks in front of 15,438 at Jobing.com Arena.

"It's disappointing to not get the results we wanted this last little stretch," coach Dave Tippett said.

But the problem spots that popped up during this losing streak, which now sits at seven, aren't new — even if they were magnified during the team's frenetic push to lasso a berth.

A scoring drought has keyed the Coyotes' struggles in recent weeks. They've averaged 1.29 goals-per-game amid this current slide, but their offensive production has been on the decline since the first month of the season when they were delivering goals at 3.36 per game.

Post-Olympic break, the Coyotes have been at 2.13.

"Our veteran forwards, who we would have expected a heck of a lot more production from, it just didn't come through," President and CEO Anthony LeBlanc said.

Center Mike Ribeiro is among the players the Coyotes missed offense from, but he snapped a 12-game goal drought against the Sharks. He buried a pass after being left alone at the back post at 10:22 in the second to make it 2-1 after Sharks center Joe Pavelski scored twice in the first period.

Center Logan Couture made it 3-1 only 13 seconds into the third with a between-the-legs redirection. Captain Shane Doan made it 3-2 with a one-timer 31 seconds later.

Goalie Mark Visentin, who was making his NHL debut, racked up 29 saves for Phoenix.

Despite point streaks of five, six and seven games, the Coyotes could never top a five-game win streak that straddled October and November.

Actually, their longest win streak since that one was a three-game stretch in mid-March.

Chalk up at least some of that inconsistency to blown leads.

The Coyotes lost 24 games this season after carrying a lead. Thirteen of those losses came despite leading in the third period.

"Some of the points we gave away there, you get down to a situation like this here, at the time you hope they don't come back to haunt you, but they do," Tippett said.

Absences of Doan and goalie Mike Smith were also impactful. Doan missed 12 games with Rocky Mountain fever, and Smith has been sidelined for nearly three weeks with an apparent knee issue. But injuries — and a rigorous schedule that sent the Coyotes to the Eastern time zone three times after the Olympic break — are expected.

So in sifting through the season, Coyotes brass will be tasked with reconfiguring the infrastructure to better withstand the predictable adversities. And, this off-season, that may mean more overhaul than usual.

"Ultimately, when you don't make the playoffs, you have to make changes to get better, and that'll be the goal," Tippett said.

"Like every year, you try to get better. When you don't make the playoffs, you gotta make sure you're doing the right things to get you going the right way."

Report

Key player: Sharks C Joe Pavelski scored twice.

Key moment: Sharks C Logan Couture found the game winner on a pretty between-the-legs tip only 13 seconds into the third period.

Key number:29 Saves from G Mark Visentin in his NHL debut.

View from the press box: Obviously, nothing was at stake with this game. The Sharks were trying to avoid injury before a first-round playoff series, and the Coyotes were playing for pride. And even though this was yet another loss, the Coyotes didn't mail this one in. That would have been disappointing considering Visentin was making his NHL debut. After a challenging first period, he settled in nicely.

Up next

Stars at Coyotes

When: Sunday at 6 p.m.

Where: Jobing.com Arena.

TV/radio: FSAZ, NBCSN/KMVP-AM (860).