Coyotes Survive Panthers

     Keith Yandle passed Craig Ramsey for fifth all-time in NHL history when he played in his 777th consecutive game on Tuesday night as the Florida Panthers were edged by the Arizona Coyotes 4-3 in a shootout at Gila River Arena. Yandle began the streak with the Phoenix Coyotes back on March 26, 2009. Riley Stillman made his NHL debut with the Cats. The Coyotes have won four straight and seven of their last nine.
     After a scoreless first period, Arizona(30-28-5) pulled ahead 1-0 at 8:15 of the second. Derek Stepan was able to put in an unassisted goal by Roberto Luongo, who replaced James Reimer in net one minute into the second period.
     Florida(28-25-9), who had only seven shots through the first 30 minutes of the contest, finally found the net with 5:16 left in the frame. Aarron Ekblad wrapped the puck around the end wall to the left wing. Jonathan Huberdeau backhanded a blind pass and Mike Hoffman blasted a one-time slapshot from the left circle past Darcy Kuemper. It was the 28th goal of the season for Hoffman, who extended his point streak to four games.
     The Coyotes scored a power-play goal with 44.5 seconds left in the second to make it 2-1. Clayton Keller flicked a wrist shot from the left post that was deflected in by Oliver Ekman-Larsson from the slot.
     The Panthers evened it up at the 5:46 mark of the third period. Riley Sheahan won a right-circle faceoff to Troy Brouwer and he circled to the right wing. His centering pass was tapped in by Jamie McGinn outside the blue paint for his second goal of the year.
     As an Arizona power play was ending, Florida came up on a 2-on-1 breakaway. Alesander Barkov place the puck his right at the red line where Brouwer was. He skated in, returned it back to Barkov at the left side of the crease and he roofed a wrist shot into the Coyotes cage at 8:15 for a 3-2 lead. Barkov has seven goals in his last six games and a six-game point streak.
     The Desert Dogs got a shorthanded goal with 6:29 remaining. Stepan brought the puck into the Panthers zone on 2-on-1 breakaway, toe-dragged it around Yandle and snapped a shot from the low slot for his second tally of the game.
     The contest would be decided in a shootout. Nick Cousins scored on a wrist shot on Arizona's first attempt and Huberdeau matched for Florida with a snap shot. Alex Galchenyuk ripped a forehand shot for the Coyotes and Barkov was stopped during the second round. Vinnie Hinostroza went to a backhand shot for the Yotes to end the game.