Ottawa Senators' Vladimir Tarasenko tries to score on Arizona Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka during first period in Ottawa. The Coyotes won 5-3 on March 1, 2024.PATRICK DOYLE/The Canadian Press
Andre Tourigny looked like a man who had just shed the weight of the world – and who could blame him.
The Arizona Coyotes head coach had much to celebrate following his team’s 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Friday night that snapped a 14-game (0-12-2) losing streak.
“I feel loose in my suit, suddenly,” said Tourigny. “I lost weight in the last 30 minutes.”
The Coyotes jumped out to a 3-0 lead only to see the Senators (25-30-3) come back and tie it by the end of the second.
Dylan Guenther scored a power-play goal at 4:18 of the third to regain the lead and Mattias Maccelli added the insurance marker with an empty-net goal at 18:45.
“It’s a big relief,” said Guenther. “I think we’ve been playing really well lately. It’s just really nice to get that out of the way and continue to play well.”
Michael Carcone, J.J. Moser and Nick Schmaltz also scored for the Coyotes (24-31-5). Karel Vejmelka stopped 34 shots.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Drake Batherson and Shane Pinto scored for the Senators (25-30-3), who have lost three in a row.
Anton Forsberg was called into action and made 26 saves after Joonas Korpisalo was a late scratch due to illness leaving the Senators without a backup on the bench.
“I got a lot of shots at the start to settle in a little bit,” said Forsberg. “I don’t think our start was great, obviously, being down 3-0 in the first. I mean we came back strong. Last period I’ve got to make that save to give us a chance to win.”
Arizona jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the 15-minute mark of the first.
Carcone opened the scoring for Arizona at 7:31 picking up a Liam O’Brien rebound to beat Forsberg through traffic. Moser made it 2-0 firing a shot from the top of the faceoff circle.
Arizona had a two-minute, two-man advantage and made the most of it with Maccelli making a cross-ice pass to Schmaltz to roof a puck short side for his 17th.
“I think the beginning of the game we’ve got to be better, but special teams they got two power plays and I thought there were some calls that were questionable and we didn’t get any calls,” said Senators interim head coach Jacques Martin. “I thought that was the difference in the game.”
Tarasenko got the Senators on the board late in the period with a shot from the bottom of the faceoff circle.
Batherson cut the lead to one at 13:49 of the second pulling back a Jacob Bernard-Docker rebound and wristed a shot past Vejmelka.
Just over two minutes later Pinto tied the game with a power-play goal. Ottawa outshot the Coyotes 19-4 in the period.
The Senators failed to show the same intensity in the third that they had in the second.
“That’s not good enough if you’re down a goal,” said Tim Stutzle. “Probably got to create a little bit more there, but it is what it is right now and we’ve just got to keep working and get better.”
Martin was frustrated to see that his team wasn’t ready to play from the start of the game. It was the fourth straight game that Ottawa trailed 2-0 early in a game.
“I just think we’re fighting back too much lately,” said Tarasenko. “We need to find a way to start games better, like on time and, you know, some nights you’re able to come back and feel nice but some nights it’s not going to work every time.
“We just need to find a way to get a better start for our games.”
Senators captain Brady Tkachuk left the game with 3:30 remaining in regulation. Tkachuk had been hit earlier in the period.
Notes
The Senators are without Josh Norris (upper body) indefinitely and Travis Hamonic is week-to-week ... Zack MacEwen was recalled from the American Hockey League’s Belleville Senators ... Arizona’s Clayton Keller missed his third straight game.
Up next
Senators: Visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
Coyotes: Visit the Washington Capitals on Sunday.