'Yotes Notes: Perlini Extends Scoring Streak in Loss to Blue Jackets

Playing in his 100th NHL game, Brendan Perlini extended his goal-scoring streak to four games on Thursday night during Arizona's 2-1 loss to Columbus at Gila River Arena.
Trailing 1-0, Perlini notched a power-play goal at 7:39 of the third period when he swept a kick pass from Christian Dvorak past Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky from near the right post. Columbus challenged Perlini's goal citing goaltender interference on Richard Panik, but the tally was reviewed and approved.
Perlini's goal was noteworthy for several reasons:

• It was his 14th goal of the season, tying his career-high mark for goals scored in a season; he scored 14 goals in 57 games as a rookie in 2016-17
  - It tied him with Clayton Keller for most goals scored this season
  - It enabled him to claim the Coyotes record for most goals scored (28) by a player in the first 100 games of his NHL career.
  "To me, it doesn't really matter about any of that stuff," Perlini said. "I just play the game for fun and to win … Pro hockey has been really fun so far and I've enjoyed every minute."

Head Coach Rick Tocchet said Perlini has the skills to be a productive goal scorer in the NHL.
"He's playing hard, and from October to now he's one of our most improved players," Tocchet said. "He's around the puck and he's shooting the puck. He's learning where to be and he's playing inside the dots. That's where you get rewarded."
• With the loss in regulation, Arizona's point streak ended at five games. Cam Atkinson scored the decisive goal for Columbus with just 3:13 left in the third period.
"I thought we played a good game," Tocchet said. "We dominated the third, we had a lot of chances. (Sergei) Bobrovsky obviously is one of the top goalies in the league ... It's on me to figure it out, but (being tied) with three or four minutes left, we've got to be able to win those games. We can't lose those games in those moments, and that's the frustrating part. They didn't have anything until then, and it was just bad coverage."
• The Coyotes peppered Bobrovsky with 39 shots. He stopped all but one.
"Obviously, he's a great goalie," Perlini said. "You just have to keep putting pucks on net from different angles and eventually you're going to get one like we did. Every goalie in this league is really good, everyone has a weakness and you just have to keep shooting and find out what it is."
• Antti Raanta stopped 25 of 27 shots for the Coyotes.
"It's a tough one when you are having so many chances and you can't take those and the other team gets one chance and they use it," Raanta said, regarding the third period. "It's really tough to swallow, but that's hockey and we need to learn from mistakes."

• Arizona finished its light January schedule with a 3-2-4 record, earning points in seven of the nine games it played.
"I like this month," Tocchet said. "I like the way they have been practicing and playing. This is important. This is a tough loss and I think we deserved better."

Thanks, in part, to the NHL All-Star break, the Coyotes will not play their next game until Feb. 1 vs. Dallas.
"We're trending in the right direction and playing some pretty solid hockey," Perlini said. "At the start of the year we really weren't in too many games. This is where we want to be. You look at the last five games or so and they've all been great efforts from the guys. Hopefully, after the break, everyone can be rested and ready to go."
• The Coyotes delivered a season-high 37 hits. Jakob Chychrun and Luke Schenn led the way with six hits apiece.
• Brad Richardson and Jason Demers both suffered upper-body injuries and did not finish Thursday's game.
"I have no idea if it's going to be long-term or not," Tocchet said. "(Richardson) got hit and (Demers) got banged pretty good, so I'm not sure."
• Alex Goligoski did not play because of illness, ending his streak of consecutive games played at 213.