'Yotes Notes: Capobianco Makes NHL Debut in Boston

BOSTON -Rookie defenseman Kyle Capobianco made his NHL debut on Thursday night at TD Garden. He skated 13:33, delivered three hits and blocked one shot in his first League game, which Arizona lost, 6-1.
"It was a great experience and I think the guys were really helpful with me," Capobianco said. "They were really friendly throughout the day and showed me the ropes."
The Coyotes recalled Capobianco from the American Hockey League on Monday and he practiced with the team on Tuesday and Wednesday. That helped him get acclimated to life in the NHL. Still, once the puck dropped, Capobianco quickly recognized the NHL is different than other league.

"It's a quick game and everyone's good with their sticks," Capobianco said. "You've got to play fast and think fast."
Head Coach Rick Tocchet liked what he saw from Capobianco.
"He was fine," Tocchet said. "That's a big step. There were some nerves, but I think he settled in. He's part of the future here. I think it's important to call guys up like that and give them a taste to see what it is to play in the NHL."
Capobianco shared his memorable experience with teammate Dylan Strome, who, like Capobianco, is from Mississauga, Ontario. The two have been good friends for years and were teammates as youth hockey players. They both were drafted by the Coyotes in 2015 and both scored their first pro goals in the same game earlier this season while skating for Tucson in the AHL.
"It was really nice," Capobianco said of having Strome play in his debut. "He'd been through it before so he helped me a lot throughout the day and made it easy on me, just talking to me and being someone I could lean on."
Capobianco's parents and brother scrambled to get to the game from Mississauga, which is about 450 miles from Boston. Kyle's mom Julie told FOX Sports Arizona she first learned Kyle was playing in the game on Thursday around 10 a.m. when she received a text from Strome that informed her that Kyle was in the lineup while she was teaching her kindergarten class.
"It was awesome," Capobianco said. "I got to peek over at them at the national anthem and see that they were there. It's definitely special, and I'm glad that they made the effort to come."

• Goalie Scott Wedgewood made his seventh start in a row and stopped 26 of 32 shots. Antti Raanta returned to the lineup for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury on Nov. 22 and served as Wedgewood's backup.
• Head Coach Rick Tocchet was not pleased with the way his team stopped playing solid defense in the game's final minutes. Boston, leading 4-1, scored twice late to create the final 6-1 margin.
"Three or four guys can't cheat for points, and that's what happened," Tocchet said. "(Wedgewood) took the brunt of it. He's played well for us, so I hope they understand that that hurts because you shouldn't leave your goalie hanging to dry like that ... The 6-1 (score) is not indicative of the game. They had one chance at the 10-minute mark and then we gave a couple plays away and it's 3-1 going into the third."

• Christian Dvorak scored Arizona's lone goal, unassisted, at 17:07 of the first period to pull Arizona into a 1-1 tie.
Dvorak stole the puck from Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo near the top of the left face-off circle, then skated hard to the net and backhanded a shot past Tuukka Rask, off the right post and into the net.

The goal was Dvorak's fourth of the season and his 16th point, which ranks fifth on the team, seven behind leader Clayton Keller.
"Obviously they're a good team and they played us hard, and they have a good goalie too, so I mean we've just got to be better, defensively and offensively," Dvorak said. "And we've got to turn the page and be ready for the next game."

• With the loss, Arizona's losing streak vs. Boston extended to 12 games. The Coyotes are 0-11-1 vs. the Bruins since last defeating them on Oct. 9, 2010 in Prague, Czech Republic.