Ducks Beat Coyotes in Preseason Game in Tucson
Dylan Strome notched one goal, one assist on Monday night at AHL rink
by Dave Vest @davest4yotes / Coyotes Sr. Director of News Content
TUCSON -- Dylan Strome notched a goal and an assist for the Coyotes in a 6-4 preseason loss to the Anaheim Ducks played Monday night at Tucson Arena, home of the Tucson Roadrunners, Arizona's affiliate in the American Hockey League.
Arizona led, 4-2, late in the second period, despite giving up two short-handed goals. The Ducks secured the win, in front of 4,720 fans, by scoring four unanswered goals within the final 24 minutes of the game.
"Not good," Head Coach Rick Tocchet said when asked to grade his team's performance in its fourth of six preseason games. "We do some good things and then all of a sudden we lose focus, guys take long shifts, guys aren't making good passes. It's almost like guys are freezing under pressure. We've got to get over that hump. I know we've got a lot of different people in the lineup and we'll sort it out, but there's a lot of things we've got to work on and guys have got to take ownership. There's no entitlement here. We've got to get that over with right now. Things are going good for some people but some guys, I don't know if they think they've got a (roster) spot or something, but we'll work on it."
Coyotes goalie Louis Domingue suffered an upper-body injury late in the second period and left the game. He did not return. He gave up three goals before his exit.
Domingue suffered the injury when a shot by Anaheim's Brandon Montour struck him on the left side of his mask and banked into the net at 16:06 of the second period.
"I think he's fine," Tocchet said. "He actually wanted to go back in. It was more precautionary."
Regarding Strome's performance, Tocchet said he liked what he saw.
"I thought he was pretty good," Tocchet said. "He tried some stuff. If he could work on a couple things defensively and be a little more assertive, he could be a guy that could stay here."
Strome led the Coyotes with five shots on goal.
"I felt good and obviously it felt nice to get on the scoresheet," Strome said. "I thought my play in the defensive zone was pretty good, getting pucks out and stuff like that ... That's obviously the way this game goes. If you're good defensively you're going to get chances offensively."
Video: Strome on 6-4 loss in Tucson to Anaheim
Brendan Perlini, Kyle Wood and Mario Kempe also scored fro Arizona, which dropped to 1-2-1 this preseason.
Kempe, who is trying to make the team after three seasons in the KHL, has caught Tocchet's attention during training camp.
"He wants a roster spot," Tocchet said. "The way he's playing, it looks like he's going to get one."
Perlini, who scored 14 goals in 17 games playing for Tucson last season, said he fel a little deja vu when he scored his goal at 5:08 of the first period.
"It was awesome," Perlini said. "I wanted to score really bad here tonight. This was the first one of the preseason for me, it's nice to get off the mark and get on the board. It was really fun coming back here and I enjoyed seeing a lot of familiar faces."