'Yotes Notes: Fourth Line Produces vs. Sharks

GLENDALE --Fourth-liner Brad Richardson notched a goal and an assist on Tuesday night as the Coyotes earned another overtime point vs. San Jose at Gila River Arena.
The Sharks won, 3-2, in a shootout.
Jordan Martinook, who played left wing on Richardson's line, also scored for Arizona. Nick Cousins, the other fourth-line winger, produced an assist and four of the team's 32 shots.

"They played well," Head Coach Rick Tocchet said of the line. "They got on the puck, and we talked about how to play against San Jose and they did it to a T. They got pucks to the net and they gave us a nice shot of energy. When your fourth line gets two goals, that's big."
Trailing 2-0, Martinook scored his goal by deflecting a shot by Jason Demers from the right point to the ice and past Sharks goalie Aaron Dell at 16:05 of the second period. The goal changed the momentum of the game, and the Coyotes dominated up until the shootout, in which they failed to score.
Richardson scored his goal on a rebound at 6:10 of the third period.

"We were creating it all around the ice, so that's good to see," Martinook said. "It's not pretty hockey, but it's effective."
Richardson, who tallied his first multi-point game of the season and the 24th of his career, agreed.
"I thought we were pretty good tonight," Richardson said. "We held onto pucks, made them play in their 'D' zone and just kind of used that cycle game, so it was effective."

* Despite the loss, the Coyotes were pleased with their performance on Tuesday. It was a nice bounce-back effort after they'd played so poorly vs. San Jose on Saturday at SAP Center in a 6-5 overtime defeat.
"That's the type of hockey we want to play," Martinook said. "You look at our offensive-zone pressure, our tracking, our 'D' zone coverage, it was all better in every facet of the game. We need to kind of bottle that up and bring that on the road with us."

Arizona next plays at Nashville and at St. Louis later this week.
"I thought our team played well," Tocchet said. "Obviously you're looking to win the game, but they're a good team that has a lot of experience. They kind of hung in there ... "The difference was the special teams. They got the power-play goal, we didn't, but five-on-five, I thought we were obviously the better team."
• Derek Stepan won 19 of 26 face-offs. He currently ranks 11th in the NHL with 449 face-off wins.
• Luke Schenn returned to the lineup after serving as a healthy scratch for two games. He blocked three shots, took two shots and delivered two hits in 14:05.
• Demers played a solid game and was plus-2 in 22:38 of ice time.
"He's been maybe our best defenseman the last 10 games," Tocchet said. "We had a heart-to-heart talk (because) I didn't think he was playing well and he agreed with me. I think he's been really good the last 10 games."