VANCOUVER — Shane Doan has turned back the clocks lately to give his Arizona Coyotes a boost.
The 39-year-old Coyotes captain scored twice on Monday night as Arizona defeated the division rival Vancouver Canucks 3-2.
Doan, playing in his 20th season in the NHL, leads his team in goals (15), and has nine in his last seven games. He was the NHL’s second star this past week, and now has four multi-goal games in Arizona’s last seven contests.
“One thing I have learned is when it’s going well you have to keep riding it as long as you can,” said Doan of his current hot streak.
Laurent Dauphin also scored for the Coyotes (19-16-4), while Louis Domingue, taking over for the injured Mike Smith, made 35 saves in his third straight start.
Daniel Sedin and Bo Horvat scored Vancouver (15-16-9), which is in the midst of a season-long, seven-game homestand. Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves in his fifth straight start in place of Ryan Miller (groin).
Sedin’s goal in the third period showed a lot of grit after the star Canuck took a puck in mouth early in the first period. Arizona’s Michael Stone swatted at the puck and it hit Sedin in the face, knocking out some of his teeth and causing blood to gush from his mouth. He had to leave for medical treatment but returned later. There was no penalty called on the play.
“Those guys always play hard,” said Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins about the Sedin brothers. “They do what it takes to win, always and every night.”
“I think he lost three or four (teeth),” added Henrik Sedin. “It’s just an accident that happens. Losing a few teeth is not a big deal. That shouldn’t stop you from playing.”
Daniel Sedin’s goal came just six seconds after Arizona had a goal called back at 15:25 on a successful coach’s challenge that the Coyotes were offside. That quickly changed momentum, and instead of a 4-1 deficit that Canucks were only down a goal.
“It was huge to make it 3-2 instead of 4-1,” said Markstrom. “I thought we really woke up after that and we really pushed hard and came close at the end. It was a tough loss.”
Doan scored his first of the night when he redirected Connor Murphy’s shot from the top of the face-off circle to open the scoring at 13:05 of the second.
His second made it 3-1 on the power play early in the third as Tobias Rieder, standing alone in front of Markstrom, beat the Vancouver goalie and hit the post before Doan swooped in to deposit the rebound.
“They are doing everything,” said Doan. “I am literally just standing there poking pucks in. It’s pretty special.”
The Canucks, desperate for a power-play goal after going nine games (0-for-20) without one, finally took advantage of the extra attacker when Horvat put back his own rebound for his first goal since Nov. 2.
“I’ve been waiting for one of those for a long time,” said Horvat. “It was nice to see one go in for once. To finally get one tonight after 27 games feel great. It’s definitely a boost of confidence, but it would be nice if we got the win.”
But the Coyotes silenced the Vancouver cheers just seconds later when Dauphin fired home a loose puck to make it 2-1.
The win keeps Arizona second in the Pacific Division with 42 points, while Vancouver now trials the Coyotes by three points in the tight Pacific standings.
The Coyotes have dominated in their division this season. Arizona is 8-1-2 versus the Pacific so far.
