'Yotes Notes: Crouse Scores First NHL Goal in Win

GLENDALE --Lawson Crouse scored his first NHL goal on Tuesday night to help the Coyotes defeat the San Jose Sharks, 3-2, at Gila River Arena.
Skating across the top of the crease, Crouse, 19, deflected a shot by defenseman Kevin Connauton past Sharks goalie Martin Jones at 4:50 of the second period.

"It's a pretty special feeling," Crouse said. "It was a great play by (Connauton) to get the puck to the net quick and I was fortunate enough to get a stick on it. I pretty much blanked out after that."
Crouse, whom the Coyotes acquired via trade in the off-season, scored 68 goals in three junior hockey seasons playing for Kingston of the Ontario Hockey League. He notched 29 in 56 games in 2014-15.
He did not score in his first five NHL games.
"I wasn't putting too much pressure on myself, I was just trying to go out there and play my game," Crouse said. "I was lucky enough to get one in tonight."

• Center Martin Hanzal played just 5:31 of the first period and did not play after the first intermission because of a lower-body injury.
"He was dealing with some issues this morning," Head Coach Dave Tippett said. "He said he could play. He said he was going to be fine to play. But then after the first period, he came in and said he couldn't play anymore."
Tippett said Hanzal is considered day-to-day at this point.
• Forward Tobias Rieder played sparingly in the third period after blocking a shot by David Schlemko late in the second period. He blocked four shots total. He, too, is considered day-to-day.
• Goalie Louis Domingue played his best game of the season to earn his second win of the year and his first vs. San Jose in his career.
Domingue made a career-high 39 saves, including 13 in the first period to keep the Coyotes in the game while the Sharks dominated play.

"I was feeling good," Domingue said. "I've been feeling good for almost all year, so I think it was just a matter of focusing for 60 minutes and getting the job done."
Domingue's best save came via his glove on a shot by Brenden Dillon with 5.1 seconds left in the second period.
"I saw the puck going there and did my job," Domingue said. "Read and react."

Domingue's teammates blocked 12 shots in front of him.
"We did a phenomenal job to be in shooting lanes knowing that these guys are taking a lot of shots," Domingue said. "They still got a lot of shots, but we made some huge blocks at key moments and it made a big difference."
Tippett agreed.
"When you're up 3-1 and you haven't been winning games, every time somebody blocked a shot or won a battle that was a big thing on the bench," Tippett said. "I give the guys a ton of credit. They egged each other on, pushed each other on, especially with the injuries. We knew we were short a couple of guys, so everybody went a little harder. We were fortunate to get the win."
• Playing in his 600th NHL game, Brad Richardson backhanded a shot past Jones at 3:42 of the second period to pull the Coyotes into a 1-1 tie.
• Jamie McGinn scored Arizona's third goal in the second period when the Coyotes turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead.
"We weathered the storm," McGinn said. "That's the best way to put it is weathering the storm and then come back out and take it to them. We didn't have enough shots in the first period. They kind of took it to us, but that's a good sign that we came out in the second period prepared and took it to them and got more pucks on net and we were rewarded."
• Center Dylan Strome played 16:49 in his first game since Oct. 21. He played well, especially late in the game when he made a nice diving poke check to thwart a Sharks advance into the offensive zone.

• Defenseman Michael Stone missed a second consecutive game because of an upper-body injury suffered Oct. 27 at Philadelphia.
"He went to get some tests done today," Tippett said after Tuesday's morning skate. "(We'll) try to get a little better handle on his injury in the next couple days."
• Captain Shane Doan skated in his 1,475th game to move into sole possession of 21st place on the NHL's all-time games played list. He entered the game tied with Doug Gilmour.
• Arizona ran a tribute video to Sharks forward Mikkel Boedker during the first period. Boedker played 445 regular-season games and 20 playoff games for the Coyotes from 2008-16.