'Yotes Notes: Doan Claims Franchise Assists Record

GLENDALE --Captain Shane Doan notched his 554th assist in the first period on Thursday night vs. Calgary to take sole possession of first place on the Coyotes/Jets franchise list for assists, passing Thomas Steen.
Doan was awarded the secondary assist on Max Domi's goal at 7:23 of the opening frame. The goal was initially ruled an unassisted goal, but an assist was given to Doan and to Christian Dvorak a few minutes after the original announcement.
Calgary won the game, 2-1, in overtime.

"Not the prettiest, but it's something that obviously at some point I'll be proud of and something that's kind of special," Doan said.

The P.A. announcer at Gila River Arena informed the crowd of Doan's record during a break in the action, and the fans and Doan's teammates recognized his feat with applause and stick taps, respectively.
With the milestone assist, Doan became just the fifth player in NHL history to lead a current franchise in the following categories: games (1,492), goals (399), assists (554), points (953), power-play goals (126) and game-winning goals (69). The other players are Ron Francis (Hartford/Carolina), Mike Modano (Minnesota/Dallas), Rick Nash (Columbus), and Joe Sakic (Quebec/Colorado).

• Arizona took part in a season-high three fights vs. the Flames. It was the most bouts by the Coyotes in one game since the 2011-12 season.
"I liked how hard we competed," Head Coach Dave Tippett said. "When you get into a rut and you're looking for ways to win, the compete has got to be the first step. There were some positives in that direction for us tonight. We've got a ways to go yet but if we'll get enough guys competing we'll be awful hard to play against."
Ryan White dropped the gloves with Lance Bouma, Connor Murphy swapped punches with Micheal Ferland, and Max Domi slugged it out with Garnet Hathaway.
Domi left the ice after his second-period fight with blood streaming under his left eye. He did not play in the third period or overtime.
After the game, Tippett said Domi was day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He also said he would never ask Domi to tone down the aggressive way in which he plays the game.
"Max has got to play the way he plays," Tippett said. "He's a hard player. You never like to see anybody get hurt, but Max has got to play hard."

• Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson twice left the game for medical treatment.
The first time came late in the first period after he absorbed a hit from behind into the boards by Bouma.
"I didn't think the hit was that bad, but the League called me and wanted to do the concussion test," Ekman-Larsson said. "I felt that I was fine right away when I got up. I don't think it was a head shot, but obviously, it's up to the League and they want to protect the players."
Ekman-Larsson again left the game late in the second period after getting hit in the face by a shot by Flames defenseman Dougie Hamilton. Ekman-Larsson needed four stitches on his lower lip to fix a gash the puck created. He said it was the first time he's needed stitches.
• Goalie Mike Smith made 33 saves in the loss.
"We talked about having to be more engaged in games and the compete level had to come up," Smith said. "But now we have to sustain that, and we have to generate more out of it."
Smith was not pleased with the power-play he allowed Mark Giordano to score late in the first period.
"That's one I should have," Smith said. "I was there and thought I had it. I'm not sure how it went in."