Saturday 24 October 2015

{coyotes} Boedker's hat trick leads Coyotes past Senators

 

OTTAWA -- Mikkel Boedker had a hat trick to lead the Arizona Coyotes to a 4-1 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday, ending the Coyotes' four-game losing streak.

Brad Richardson scored his first of the season for the Coyotes (4-3-1), who lost the first two games of their five-game road trip.

Cody Ceci had his first of the season for the Senators (3-3-2), who have lost four games in a row and haven't won at home (0-2-2).

Coyotes goaltender Anders Lindback made 35 saves in his first start of the season.

Arizona will visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday and finish the trip against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

"That was real important, especially on a longer road trip," Boedker said. "We still have two more games on this road trip. I think that was real important for us as a group to show that we can win on the road and we can win tight games, so that feels really good and I think we can bring that on to Toronto."

The three-goal performance was a big step for Boedker, whose 2014-15 season was cut short after 45 games when he needed his spleen removed.

"The win is the most important thing, but obviously for selfish reasons, it feels really good to get on the board and with a hat trick, it makes it extra special," Boedker said. "It was a good team win, a good collective win."

The Senators struggled again in their own zone. Boedker skated around Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson to open the scoring in the first period.

After Ceci tied the game in the second, Richardson put the Coyotes ahead with some gritty play in front of the net, putting in a rebound while on his stomach at 14:31 of the third period.

Ottawa's problems in its own zone resulted in Boedker taking advantage of a sloppy turnover to make it 3-1 at 15:49. He scored an empty-net goal at 17:59 to complete the hat trick.

"We were so bad in the first period, in terms of competing and executing," Senators coach Dave Cameron said. "They just out-structured us. We ended up chasing our tail, chasing our tail … negative energy because you're chasing. (We) handed them a goal, they came 200 feet right through our team, so now they're gone to another level.

"I thought we rebounded a bit in the second, but still, our compete level and our execution level didn't allow us to sustain enough pressure to beat their structure. They made it hard for us and we didn't accept the challenge."

Senators goaltender Craig Anderson made 22 saves.

Ottawa has one game left on its four-game homestand to try and figure out how to get a win at Canadian Tire Centre.

"It wears on you, taking aside the fact fans come and they pay their money, they want to see wins and not 4-1 losses," said Senators forward Bobby Ryan, who had eight shots on goal. "You can't stay in the hunt losing points at home, especially when you're on a homestand and you haven't found a way to get anything out of it."

The Coyotes won without center Antoine Vermette, whose streak of 482 consecutive games played in the regular season ended because of a lower-body injury. He was attempting to become the 21st NHL player to play in 500 consecutive games.

"[Vermette] came down early this afternoon before the game and we talked about it," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "He's left two games in the last week. We just couldn't put ourselves in that position to have that happen again. We just decided he couldn't play at 100 percent and we needed 100 percent from everybody tonight."

Vermette's streak was the second-longest among active players, behind Andrew Cogliano of the Anaheim Ducks (629). The streak began on March 7, 2009 when Vermette debuted with the Columbus Blue Jackets after being traded by the Senators. He was a healthy scratch at times for the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Vermette, 33, does not have a point in seven games this season.

Senators defenseman Marc Methot, who took part in the morning skate, missed his third game because of a concussion.

Senators wing Curtis Lazar left the game in the first period. There was no update on his condition.

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