'Yotes Notes: Domi Becomes Center of Attention vs. Penguins

GLENDALE - Max Domi had a busy night on Saturday at Gila River Arena. The Coyotes forward scored a goal, played center for the first time in a long time, took three penalties and stood up for a teammate checked into the boards from behind.
"Good teams find ways to win those games," Domi said after Arizona's 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh. "And they're a good team over there that found a way. We came up a little bit short."

Domi scored his goal at 9:43 of the third period to tie the score 2-2. Clayton Keller set up the goal with a nifty pass to Domi in the low slot.
"That's a heck of a play by Kells," Domi said. "He's got unbelievable vision and he found me, and all I really had to do was put it in the net."
The goal was Domi's third of the season, but his first with an opposing goalie in the net since the season opener vs. Anaheim on Oct. 5. He scored an empty-net goal vs. Toronto on Nov. 20.
The game appeared headed to overtime but Pittsburgh's Olli Maatta scored with 15 seconds left, and Sidney Crosby added an empty-netter to create the final score.
"It's unfortunate because Antti (Raanta) was unbelievable," Domi said. "He was the best player in the game, by far. He kept us in it the whole game."
Head Coach Rick Tocchet asked Domi if he'd play center on Saturday morning and Domi said OK. His wingers were Keller and Christian Fischer.
"I just wanted to shake it up," Tocchet said. "Maybe loosen (Max) up. He's been struggling and (been) a little tight lately. I just wanted to try something different. It's unfair to him because he hasn't practiced there. He's played (center) in juniors, but that was a long time ago. I just sprung it on him this morning and he said, 'Let's do it.'"

Despite sitting in the penalty box for six minutes, Domi played 14:49, took three shots on goal, delivered two hits and won four of nine face-offs.
"It was a little bit different, but it was a lot of fun," Domi said of playing center. "Playing with two wingers like that you just distribute the puck and follow them up the ice."
One of Domi's three penalties was for roughing. He served it early in the first period for jumping Pittsburgh's Chad Ruhwedel after Ruhwedel checked Keller into the boards from behind.
• Antti Raanta took the loss, Arizona's sixth in row, very hard. After the game, he spoke to reporters while seated in his stall - he usually stands - and still wearing most of his gear.
"We put our heart into the game today," said Raanta, who accidentally deflected Maatta's game-deciding shot into the net with his goalie stick. "Everybody was working extremely hard. There was moments where we were probably 10 minutes in our own end, but we were just battling. There was sacrifices today … When you make that kind of mistake it's tough because you kind of let your whole team down. It's a rough one for sure. I think it was probably going wide. Reactions took part there. That's pretty unlucky, but you need to learn from your mistakes and hopefully that will never happen again."

Tocchet said Raanta, who made 29 saves, played well.
"He feels bad, but it's adversity and he will go back in there again and he will give us a chance again," Tocchet said. "That's the life of the Coyotes right now. We have to build off these experiences."
• Nick Cousins scored Arizona's first goal with nine seconds left in the second period. Cousins, who lost his left glove just before the goal, shot the puck over Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray's glove from the left circle. It was a cool moment for Cousins because he and Murray were teammates in junior hockey while playing for Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League from 2010-13, and because Cousins predicted the goal aloud to Murray before the game.
"I saw him there in warm-ups and I said 'high glove tonight,'" Cousins said. "It's pretty funny actually. He just sort of laughed so it's funny how it worked out ... I don't think I drew it up like that, with one glove. I usually don't practice that one with one glove on. But, you know, I'll take it and hopefully it'll give me a little bit of confidence going forward."

• Playing in his 200th NHL game, Jordan Martinook skated 16:50, delivered four hits and blocked two shots.
• Fischer wore a full shield attached to his helmet to protect his face. That's because Fischer was hit in the face by a puck in Thursday's game vs. Tampa Bay and needed about a dozen stitches to close a cut.
• Nick Merkley, whom Arizona recalled from the American Hockey League on Friday afternoon, did not play vs. Pittsburgh but might play vs. Florida on Tuesday. Tocchet would like him to practice with the team before he gets into a game.
• Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Archie Bradley attended the game and stood on Arizona's bench wearing a Coyotes sweater during warm-ups. In the first intermission, Bradley gladly allowed staff members to propel him on a sled the length of the ice into inflatable bowling pins. He lunged from his sled to knock them all down.