Martinook, Raanta lead Coyotes past Senators
Jordan Martinook's late second-period goal broke the deadlock and ended up the winner and goalie Antti Raanta made 23 saves as the Arizona Coyotes claimed a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz.
With the score tied 1-1, Martinook netted the go-ahead marker at 14:08 of the middle frame when he took advantage of porous Ottawa defensive play. While seemingly all of the Ottawa skaters were mesmerized by the puck, Martinook set up shop alone in front of the net. After getting a pass from Brad Richardson, Martinook made no mistake with the golden chance to the delight of the home crowd.
Martinook, who has collected 26 goals and 64 points in 229 NHL games, truly relishes facing the Senators, having netted three goals and seven points in six career games against Ottawa.
From there, Raanta had little trouble holding the fort for a Coyotes team that's at the bottom of the league standings but has won three of four games and posted an 8-2-1 mark over its last 11 outings. The Senators, looking lately like a team that's just playing out the string, managed just four shots on goal in the third period and just one shot in the first 16 minutes of the final stanza.
Ottawa's Jean-Gabriel Pageau opened the scoring at 3:24 of the first period by taking advantage of a Coyotes defensive breakdown. Pageau was left alone at the top of the crease as the Senators controlled play and had an easy tap-in after a perfect sharp-angled pass from Bobby Ryan.
However, Arizona's Oliver Ekman-Larsson drew the hosts even at 18:46 of the first period. Ekman-Larsson completed a give-and-go with Clayton Keller before ripping a long shot past Senators goalie Mike Condon. With an assist on the goal, Coyotes forward Derek Stepan collected his 400th career point.
Condon stopped 25 shots for the Senators, who have only one win in their last eight games (1-6-1), although that victory came at the expense of the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights.
--Field Level Media
