Recap: Coyotes Beat Sens, Extend Winning Streak to Four Games

GLENDALE -- The Coyotes scored three goals in the first period en route to a convincing 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators at Gila River Arena on Tuesday night.
"We want to get people to come to the game and get the crowd into it," Head Coach Rick Tocchet said. "I thought our team's been doing that lately. We're really showing up. I think the first couple of games of the year we were kind of sluggish early, but then we started to play better. I feel that the team knows that the first period is really important to us."
The triumph extended Arizona's winning streak to four games and upped its record to 6-5-0.

"It's not fun to be out of the playoffs like we were last year in October," captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. "It means a lot to us to get a good start and feel like we have a chance to beat every team in the League. We're playing good and building our game."
• Alex Galchenyuk, Brad Richardson and Derek Stepan all scored in the first period as the Coyotes built a 3-0 lead and chased Senators goalie Mike Condon from the game.
Ottawa Head Coach Guy Boucher yanked Condon from the net after Stepan scored his goal, short-handed, with a harmless puck launch from Arizona's blue line. The puck traveled about 120 feet before somehow trickling between Condon's pads.

"You earn your bounces," Stepan said. "We had some bounces going the other way early on in the year, now they're starting to go our way and in a few weeks, they're going to come back the other way. Good teams find ways to win any given night regardless of the bounces."

• Antti Raanta stopped 25 of 26 shots and lowered his goals-against average to 1.99, which ranks third lowest in the NHL for goalies who have played at least eight games.
"When we're sticking with our game plan and everybody is dialed in, we're a really good team," Raanta said. "Everybody was sacrificing their bodies and blocking the shots and taking away the rebounds. As a goalie, it's a dream to play behind that team."

• Galchenyuk's goal, which he scored with some hustle in front of Ottawa's net at 4:09 of the first period, was his first since coming to the Coyotes via a trade with Montreal over the summer.
"It's always nice to score goals in this league, but to get the first one in the organization feels extra special and I'm happy to get it out of the way now," Galchenyuk said.

• Richard Panik scored the key goal for Arizona at 8:42 of the second period. It was key because it came just 22 seconds after Ottawa had scored to pull to within 3-1, and it quickly gave the momentum back to the Coyotes.
"That was a big goal for us right there," Galchenyuk said. "You don't know which way it's going to go, but we're confident and we were able to make a statement."

• Ekman-Larsson completed the scoring for Arizona when he notched a power-play goal at 10:25 of the third period. The goal was Ekman-Larsson's first of the season and his first as captain of the Coyotes.
"Lately everybody has been scoring except me so ... it's nice to get one, for sure," Ekman-Larsson said. "Hopefully I can get some confidence from that and keep building on my game. I've been feeling good, except not scoring."

• Defenseman Kevin Connauton was a late scratch from the game because of illness. Ilya Lyubushkin replaced him in the lineup.
• The Coyotes have scored an NHL-leading six short-handed goals this season, and have scored a short-handed goal in three straight games for just the second time in franchise history (March 23-29, 1985).

• Stats that jump off the Event Summary: Ekman-Larsson took seven of Arizona's 35 shots on goal, Stepan won 11 of 14 face-offs, and Jordan Oesterle blocked five shots.