The Wrap: Coyotes Drop Physical Contest in Anaheim

STATS
Wednesday's game between the Arizona Coyotes and Anaheim Ducks may have just been a preseason game, but it had all the makings of a heavyweight bout.
Dylan Guenther notched his first goal of the preseason, but the Coyotes were unable to beat Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal beyond that, as Arizona fell 3-1 to the Ducks in a physical game at the Honda Center on Wednesday night.

The two teams combined for 106 penalty minutes in the often-intense game, most of which came during a testy second period that featured eight fights and 20 penalties. Anaheim improved to 2-1 in preseason play, while Arizona fell to 0-3-1.
Coyotes goalie Karel Vejmelka finished with 20 saves on 23 shots, while Dostal turned aside 28 of 29.
The fireworks started midway through the second period after Coyotes forward Jan Jenik hit Ducks forward Trevor Zegras near center ice. Zegras was shaken up on the play and did not return, and Jenik was not assessed a penalty on the play.
Anaheim's Adam Henrique was given a retaliatory penalty for fight instigation, which ultimately led to Guenther's second-period goal after he redirected Christian Fischer's shot from just inside the blue line as the Coyotes' power play expired. Ben McCartney received the secondary assist.

"I'm getting more comfortable every period, every game," Guenther said. "The emphasis for me is just my start. I think I need to be better coming out of the gate, but once I get comfortable, I feel good out there, and I'm excited for what's to come."
After that, neither team seemed willing to let the other usurp its level of physicality.
"I liked our grit. I think we were physical, we played a good game," said head coach André Tourigny. "A little bit too many penalties, and our power play was not clicking, but if you look the way we worked, our effort, our physicality, that was pretty good.
"We need to make some plays and create more offense."
Anaheim forward Ryan Strome answered with 53 seconds to play in the period, scoring the eventual game-winning goal after Olen Zellweger threaded a shot-pass through the defense. Isac Lundestrom gave Anaheim a two-goal lead nine minutes into the third period, beating Vejmelka with a one-timer from the high slot.
Ducks forward Pavol Regenda also scored for the Ducks, notching his second preseason goal to put Anaheim ahead 1-0 17:25 into the first period.
Arizona plays next on Tuesday, Oct. 4 against the Vegas Golden Knights, and Tourigny said he's looking forward to being able to take the time and regroup with the club after playing four preseason games within a week of training camp kicking off.

"That's basically our training camp," Tourigny said, referring to the upcoming week of practice. "Now we have a chance to have four good practices, get our stuff together, and make sure we're on the same page on a lot of details."
Next week's puck drop on Tuesday is scheduled for 7 pm MST at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.