Coyotes experience rare Edmonton stumble
EDMONTON, Alberta -- On Nov. 23, 2009, Owl City's "Fireflies" was the No. 1 single in America. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" was the No. 1 movie on the continent. The iPhone 3GS was the top-of-the-line offering from Apple.
And, until Monday night, it marked the last time the Edmonton Oilers beat the Arizona Coyotes in regulation at home.
The Oilers finally broke the 14-game curse with a 3-1 over Arizona on Monday. Jujhar Khaira's first-ever NHL goal stood up as the game-winner, and Cam Talbot made 20 saves for his 23rd victory of the season.
The Oilers opened the scoring just 3:34 into the first period, and it came from a combination between two players desperately looking to break their slumps.
Jordan Eberle, who was held without a point in his previous six games, dropped a pass to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had just one goal in his last eight. Nugent-Hopkins' wrist shot beat Coyotes goalie Mike Smith (24 saves).
Eberle's deft pass found Nugent-Hopkins alone in front of the Coyotes net at the four-minute mark of the second. But, this time, Smith wouldn't be beaten, getting his blocker to the shot.
The next time that line was on the ice, Eberle rang a backhanded effort off the post.
The Eberle-Smith duel continued near the halfway point of the period. Eberle came out of the penalty box and reeled in a breakaway pass, but Smith sprawled to deny the Oilers' right winger.
Smith then made a tremendous reflex save, sticking out his arm to stop a shot from Connor McDavid that took a wild deflection off of Coyotes defenseman Luke Schenn.
Smith's brave resistance was finally broken with 8:20 left in the second as Khaira tipped home a pass from Mark Letestu to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead. Khaira played 15 games with Edmonton last season, and this was just his second contest of the 2016-17 campaign after being called up from Bakersfield of the American Hockey League last week.
Leon Draisaitl made it 3-0 with a wrist shot over Smith's shoulder at 13:37 of the middle period.
On the power play at 17:56 of the second, Radim Vrbata gave the Coyotes some life, finishing the chance provided to him by Alexander Burmistrov. It was Burmistrov's first game with the Coyotes; he was claimed off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 2.
Despite being down by two goals in the third period, the Coyotes offered nothing offensively, getting just four shots on goal in the final frame.
Oilers defenseman Andrej Sekera had to leave the game late in the third period after blocking a shot with his arm.
NOTES: After missing Saturday's game with a lower-body injury, Oilers D Adam Larsson was a game-time decision but declared fit to go. ... Oilers LW Jujhar Khaira returned after missing Saturday's game because of food poisoning. ... C Alexander Burmistrov skated in his first game for Arizona after being claimed Jan. 2 on waivers from Winnipeg. ... Coyotes LW Jordan Martinook returned after missing three games with an upper-body injury. ... This was the fourth meeting of the season between the Oilers and Coyotes. Arizona won two of the previous three games, with one victory in a shootout. Each of the three games was decided by one goal. ... The Oilers scratched C Matt Hendricks, D Eric Gryba and D Jordan Oesterle. The Coyotes scratched D Kevin Connauton, C Laurent Dauphin and RW Josh Jooris.