Recap: Oesterle, Garland Provide Offense in 4-2 Loss to Blue Jackets

GLENDALE --The Coyotes overcame a sluggish start on Thursday night, but their bid for a comeback victory fell short in a 4-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Gila River Arena.

Jordan Oesterle notched a goal and an assist in the second period when the Coyotes scored twice in less than two minutes to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 2-2 tie.

The Blue Jackets, however, notched a greasy power-play goal before the second intermission and added an insurance goal in the third period to extend Arizona's winless streak to five games (0-4-1).
"It's kind of been the story of the last five games," said Oesterle, who stretched his point streak to three games. "There are certain parts of the game where we aren't mentally prepared. The start killed us tonight, and that's the consequences of not being ready."
Trailing 2-0, Oesterle scored his fifth goal of the season with a wrist shot from between the circles at 4:20 of the second period. Nick Cousins set up the goal with a crisp pass and Clayton Keller provided a screen in front of Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
Oesterle then set up Arizona's second goal when he shoveled the puck up the ice to Conor Garland, who got behind Columbus defenders and beat Bobrovsky with a wrist shot from the right circle after faking a slap shot.
The Blue Jackets, however, retook the lead for good at 10:24 of the second period when a power-play shot by Seth Jones ricocheted off one of Josh Anderson's legs and snuck past Darcy Kuemper.

Trailing 3-2, Josh Archibald nearly tied the score on a two-on-one rush; his shot from the left circle beat Bobrovsky but hit the right post with 8:57 to play.
"When there's times where we could've made that play to win, the other team's making that play to win," Coyotes Head Coach Rick Tocchet said. "... A lot of what-ifs the last bunch of games, but tomorrow's another day and we've got to try to figure a way to get some wins here."

• Garland's goal was his 11th of the season, tying him with Keller, Brad Richardson, Derek Stepan and Christian Fischer for he team lead. Remarkably, Garland has scored his 11 goals over the past 20 games after not producing a point is his first seven NHL games.

• Kuemper, who made 29 saves, started his 29th game of the season, setting a new career high. He started 28 for Minnesota in 2014-15.
• Kyle Capobianco, playing just his third NHL game and first on home ice, suffered a lower-body injury at 12:14 of the third period when he was checked into the boards by Nick Foligno. The rookie defenseman was helped off the ice and did not return to the game.
Tocchet did not know the severity of the injury immediately after the game.
"We'll know tomorrow," Tocchet said. "Didn't look good. We haven't been getting any good news lately, so hopefully it's good news."

• The Coyotes delivered a season-high 44 hits. Fischer and Lawson Crouse led the way with seven hits each.
• With the loss, Arizona sits four points behind St. Louis, which owns the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference standings.
"There's a lot of teams in the west fighting for a spot, so there's a lot of teams playing with some urgency here, and we're one of them," Garland said.