'Yotes Notes: Dvorak Showing Scoring Touch in March

GLENDALE --Christian Dvorak is quietly leading the Coyotes in goal production this month, and on Thursday night he matched his career-high for goals in a season when he scored his 15th during a 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators at Gila River Arena.
Dvorak gave Arizona a 1-0 lead when he beat Preds goalie Pekka Rinne with a follow-up shot after his first shot was blocked at 4:09 of the second period. He also co-led the team with five shots on goal and won 11 of 16 face-offs.

"In the last two months, he's been working on that stuff and it's paying off," Head Coach Rick Tocchet said. "If you look at that goal, it's on his stick and then it's off his stick. Two, three months ago he might have massaged it and held it too long. This is a game when you get it, you've got to get it off. All the great goal scorers can get that puck off quick, and he's starting to realize (that)."

Dvorak has scored five of Arizona's 20 goals in March, and he now ranks third on the team in goals (15) trailing only Clayton Keller (19) and Brendan Perlini (16). His goal vs. Nashville gave him 34 points this season, one more than he notched last season as a rookie.
• Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored Arizona's other goal vs. Nashville, moments after a power play ended at 16:28 of the second period. The goal, Ekman-Larsson's 99th in the NHL, gave the Coyotes a 2-1 lead they ended up squandering in the third period.
"It feels like we're around every game, and that's a great feeling," Ekman-Larsson said. "You play against one of the best teams in the league and you have a chance to win. So it says a lot about this team. It's a long way to go but at the same time we're playing better and we're doing some good stuff out there."

• Nashville scored twice in the third period to seize control of the game. Kevin Fiala notched the game-winning goal at 4:31 after Kyle Turris won a face-off with Brad Richardson in Arizona's zone.
"It's frustrating because we probably should have won that game," Richardson said. "I'll take credit for that one. Blown face-off there and they score. Shouldn't have happened ... Our line was out for both (Nashville goals in the third period). I didn't think we had a good night."
• Referee T.J. Luxmore accidentally elbowed Ekman-Larsson in the head a few moments after calling Ekman-Larsson for cross-checking late in the first period. In the heat of the moment, Ekman-Larsson took offense.
"He got me going a little bit there," Ekman-Larsson explained after the game. "He came up right away and said sorry, but I wasn't in the mood, so I had to grab him in the third."

• Darcy Kuemper stopped 26 of 29 shots while filling in yet again for Antti Raanta, who missed a sixth consecutive game because of a lower-body injury.

• Both Keller and Derek Stepan assisted on Ekman-Larsson's goal to extend their point streaks to three games. The assist was Keller's 32nd of the season, which ties him with Peter Mueller for second place on the Coyotes list for assists by a rookie in a season.
• Despite the loss, Arizona fared well vs. Nashville, the defending Western Conference champs, this season with a 1-1-1 record in three games.
"We didn't give them much tonight," Tocchet said. "That's a championship team there and they're locked and loaded. I think our guys have a sour taste in their mouth. I think they believe they should've won the game tonight, and I like that feeling. … I would have liked to see a couple better defensive zone decisions, but it's a game of mistakes. We pushed them and that is why they are a great team, because they win those types of games."
• Tocchet returned to the Coyotes after a three-day leave of absence. His mother, Norma, passed away on Wednesday at age 93. He said she loved hockey and was his biggest fan.
"My mom had a good run," Tocchet said. "... I never deserved a penalty. I never had a bad game. It was always the coach's fault (if he did). I could do no wrong. In her eyes, I was like (Wayne) Gretzky and (Mario) Lemieux put together."