Top-3: Senators give Coyotes their first win in 15 games

Only three games were played last night in the National Hockey League.

Here are the highlights.

1. Coyotes finally end their horrific losing streak

After suffering a 14ᵉ defeat in a row on Friday night, the Coyotes decided enough was enough and so prevented this horrible sequence from reaching 15 consecutive losses.

They won 5-3 last night against the Senators in Ottawa.

The Coyotes started the game on fire with 18 shots and three goals in the first period, but the Sens came back to dominate the second.

Despite this fine effort, the Sens still found a way to lose the game, and thus be the team to hand the Coyotes their first win in 15 games.

Guenther (7)
Schmaltz (20), Maccelli (32) https://t.co/v1PjystqwI pic.twitter.com/ofe0N2MgRr

– Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) March 2, 2024

Note that after Matias Maccelli’s empty net goal and third point of the game, the Coyotes didn’t hesitate to discreetly recall the Ridly Greig incident, pointing out that Maccelli had kindly deposited the puck in the empty net.

Not only did the Arizona Coyotes win.

But we also followed proper etiquette and put the puck into the empty net very, very gently https://t.co/prk5FETstl pic.twitter.com/t1asuFC94u

– Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) March 2, 2024

So the Coyotes are unbeaten in March, much to the delight of Habs fans who want to see the Coyotes pass the Habs in the overall standings.

2. Devils drop VERY important points to Ducks

There’s a heated playoff battle going on in the Eastern Conference right now, as four Metropolitan Division teams currently out of the playoff picture remain in the hunt for a one-team playoff spot.

Among these teams are the New Jersey Devils, who surprisingly aren’t having an incredible season.

Indeed, it’s been much tougher than expected for the team that still beat the New York Rangers in seven games last year in the first round of the spring tournament.

In short, the Devils are five points out of the play-offs, so every point is more than important.

Unfortunately for the Devils, Lukas Dostal was in their way last night, as the Ducks won 4-3 in regulation time against the Devils.

It was a tough loss for New Jersey, who had 55 shots on net to the Ducks’ 23.

The lack of points hurts even more when you realize that, with two seconds left in the game, Frank Vatrano gave Jack Hughes a penalty shot on a silver platter by deliberately moving his net.

The result?

Jack Hughes didn’t even take a shot, and the Ducks weren’t shy about taunting the Devils’ player.

In short, this tough loss further distances the Devils from a potential playoff spot.

3. Capitals win important divisional duel with Flyers

Last night saw a crucial duel between two division rivals (the Metropolitan) who clearly don’t like each other, unless your name is Hendrix Lapierre or Ryan Poehling, who do.

The Flyers (very surprisingly) still hold third place in the Metropolitan Division, but the other teams in the division remain very close.

So it was a very important game last night for both teams.

In the end, it was the team out of the playoff picture that came out on top, 5-2.

Fun fact: Alex Ovechkin is the League’s all-time leading goal scorer in the month of March after passing Wayne Gretzky with this goal!

Ovi has 145 goals in 245 games played in the month of March! pic.twitter.com/81LDt6rPdb

– NHL (@NHL) March 2, 2024

With this goal, Ovi became the NHL’s all-time leading scorer for the month of March, surpassing Wayne Gretzky.

With a point in the win, Max Pacioretty became the highest scorer in University of Michigan history for an NHL player.

In short, the Capitals, who still have two games in hand, close to within four points of the Flyers.

It’s going to be a good race until the very end.

Overtime

– Here are yesterday’s results.

– Here are the night’s top scorers.

– Today’s NHL schedule: 13 games.