Panthers End Winless Road Trip With OT Loss To Coyotes
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GLENDALE (CBSMiami/AP) — The Florida Panthers couldn't capitalize on opportunities against a lesser opponent and again failed to come away with two points.
With their All-Star goalie off his game, the Arizona Coyotes needed others to come up big Monday night.
Two rookies, a veteran fourth-liner and a center cut loose by Winnipeg at the beginning of the month did just that.
Tobias Rieder scored 48 seconds into overtime to give the Coyotes a 3-2 win over the slumping Panthers.
Rieder converted a pass from Alexander Burmistrov, who has five assists in his first five games with Arizona after being claimed off waivers from the Jets.
"Burmy made a nice play and I stepped right into that one and luckily it went in," Rieder said. "Good things happen when you put the puck on the net."
Mike Smith struggled to gather in pucks all night but made 23 saves for the Coyotes.
Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo faced 42 shots, a season high for Arizona.
Florida has lost four in a row and five of six. Arizona won its second straight to match its longest win streak of the season.
"Roberto played great," Panthers coach Tom Rowe said. "Goaltenders that we have give us a chance to win every night, but we are still being a little too sloppy with the puck in the neutral zone."
Christian Fischer and Ryan White scored 12 seconds apart early in the second period for the Coyotes, who trailed 1-0 after one.
Off a faceoff, the 19-year-old Fischer got the deflection of Jakob Chychrun's shot and beat Luongo stick side to tie it at 2:03.
Fischer became the first player in franchise history to score a goal in each of the first two games of his career. He also scored in his NHL debut against Tampa Bay on Saturday.
"I was a lot more comfortable. First game, full of emotions," Fischer said. "I played my game more and I was more confident with the puck."
Seconds later, White, a fourth-line winger with only two goals before Monday, took a pass wide open on the right side off another draw, faked a shot and then fired a wrist shot past Luongo for a 2-1 Coyotes lead. Chychrun got an assist on that goal, too.
Chychrun, a rookie who grew up a Panthers fan in South Florida, recorded his first multipoint game and has four points in his last four games.
"It was kind of a mucky game," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "I was happy the way our guys stuck with it, because there were some times in that game where I didn't think either team was probably as good as they needed to be."
The Panthers drew even at 6:34 of the second. Michael Sgarbossa put in a backhand going away off his own rebound for his second goal of the season.
Florida's Vincent Trocheck was whistled for slashing at 11:56 of the first period, giving Arizona its first power play. But the Panthers killed the penalty and, seconds afterward, Trocheck put in a rebound for the game's first goal.
Trocheck collected a deflection off Smith's glove, the result of a shot by Jakub Kindl, and scored his team-leading 18th of the season with 5:36 left in the period.
Trocheck had another shot hit the post at 16:35, and the Panthers withstood another Coyotes power play before the period was over.
NOTES: Former Coyote Keith Yandle played in his 600th consecutive regular-season game. The Panthers' defenseman was drafted by the Coyotes in 2005. ... D Dylan McIlrath and G James Reimer were scratched for the Panthers. Reimer is away from the team for a personal matter. ... D Kevin Connauton, F Jordan Martinook and F Josh Jooris were the Coyotes' lineup scratches. Martinook is dealing with an upper-body injury. ... Coyotes F Lawson Crouse faced his former team for the first time since the Panthers traded him in the offseason. Crouse was drafted by Florida in the first round in 2015.
UP NEXT
Panthers: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, the start of a four-game homestand.
Coyotes: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, the third of five in a row at home.
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