'Yotes Notes: Duclair Ends Lengthy Scoring Drought

GLENDALE --Forward Anthony Duclair scored Arizona's first goal on Tuesday night vs. Dallas to end a 21-game goal-scoring drought.
The goal was Duclair's second of the season and his first since Nov. 3.
The Stars won, 3-2, at Gila River Arena.

Trailing 1-0, Duclair positioned himself in front of the Dallas net and took multiple whacks at a loose puck in front of Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen. Duclair's fourth poke sent the puck past Lehtonen at 3:37 of the second period.
"It's been way too long," Duclair said. "For that puck to go in was a pretty cool feeling ... Lehtonen gives up a lot of rebounds, we saw that on video. We just wanted to get some traffic on net and get big bodies in front."
Duclair, who scored 20 goals as a rookie last season, was so relieved to score the goal that he kissed the blade of his stick as he skated to the bench.

• Goalie Mike Smith got into a shoving match with several Stars in front of Arizona's net late in the second period. At one point, Smith challenged Stars forward Radek Faksa to fight.
"It's nothing," said Smith, who stopped 26 of 28 saves against the team that drafted him 161st overall in 2001. "It's emotions in the game. The day I don't have emotion is probably the day I'll be done playing. I'm an emotional guy. I like to battle. I enjoy that part of the game. It's part of hockey, so there's nothing else to it."

• Trailing 2-1, defenseman Luke Schenn kept the Coyotes within one goal by making an acrobatic kick save on a shot by Faksa with 4:57 left in the third period. With Smith behind Arizona's goal, Schenn slid feet first and blocked Faksa's shot attempt into the empty net with his left skate.

• Arizona has scored just eight goals during its five-game losing streak.
"We've got to give ourselves a chance to score by hitting the net because a lot of times you hit the net, even if the goalie makes a save, a lot of times you get a second shot," Head Coach Dave Tippett said. "Those are areas we have to improve in. We have to continue to push our skill level as high as it goes. Offensive-zone stuff, we're trying some different stuff in there to see if we can get some more shots through. But ultimately, it comes down to capitalizing on a chance or two whether it's a hard-earned goal like a deflection or a screen or it's a play made off a rush that you've got to capitalize on."

• Dallas took a 1-0 lead at 2:48 of the second period when Jason Spezza scored a nifty short-handed goal.
Coyotes forward Radim Vrbata was the lone skater in position to defend Spezza as he made his way into Arizona's zone.
"He's got lots of skill," Vrbata said of Spezza. "I was afraid that he would cut to the middle, so that's where I stayed - in the middle - and tried to give him the outside. I thought I pushed him far enough where he wouldn't get a chance there, but he made a great play (and) just chipped it by 'Smitty.'"
• Vrbata, the NHL's all-time leader in shootout goals, scored Arizona's second goal on a penalty shot with 6.6 seconds left in the game.
• Rookie Jakob Chychrun returned to the lineup after missing Friday's game because of an upper-body injury. Chychrun played 17:23, took two shots and blocked three shots. He was one of seven defensemen in the lineup for Arizona for a second straight game.
• Forward Ryan White missed a second consecutive game because of a lower-body injury. He's considered day-to-day.
• Prospect Dylan Strome played 14:43 and notched one assist for Canada in a 5-0 win over Slovakia on the second day of the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship.