'Yotes Notes: Hanzal Misses Game vs. Jets

The Coyotes played Wednesday's game at Winnipeg minus center Martin Hanzal, who has left the team temporarily.
Head Coach Dave Tippett told reporters Hanzal flew back to Arizona because of "a family matter." He did not elaborate.
Without Hanzal, an alternate captain, the Coyotes lost to the Jets, 6-3, at the MTS Centre.

It's unclear if Hanzal, who ranks tied for second on the team with nine goals, will re-join the team in Minnesota for Thursday's game vs. the Wild.
The Coyotes missed Hanzal in the face-off circles on Wednesday; Winnipeg won 37 of 56 draws.
Defenseman Alex Goligoski served as an alternate captain in place of Hanzal.
• Playing his second game for Arizona and his first game vs. Winnipeg, center Alexander Burmistrov assisted on Jakob Chychrun's goal at 14:42 of the third period. He also took two shots, blocked two shots and delivered two hits.
Burmistrov, whom Arizona claimed off waivers from Winnipeg on Jan. 2, has notched one assist in both games he's played for the Coyotes. He played a team-high 20:44 in Wednesday's game, the 300th of his NHL career. Burmistrov began his career after the Winnipeg franchise, based in Atlanta at the time, drafted him eighth overall in 2010.

• Chychrun's goal was the rookie's second of the season and his first since Oct. 20.
• Forward Josh Jooris gave Arizona a short-lived 1-0 lead by scoring his first goal as a member of the Coyotes at 2:49 of the first period.
• Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored a power-play goal at 8:50 of the first period to give Arizona a 2-1 lead. Ekman-Larsson has scored eight of his 85 NHL goals (9.3 percent) vs. Winnipeg in just 15 games.
"We haven't been able to put 60 minutes together and we're going to have to find ways to do that," Ekman-Larsson said. "It's frustrating right now."

• Captain Shane Doan notched an assist on Ekman-Larsson's goal and has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in his past nine games against the Jets.
"They picked up their level (in the second period) and we didn't match it," Doan said. "... We had a couple opportunities, (Ondrej) Pavelec made a big save for them to keep it 3-2 or 4-2 or whatever. They seemed to get more jump off of that and we've got to be better. We got to find ways to compete better."

• Head Coach Dave Tippett pulled starter Mike Smith at 8:59 of the third period after he gave up six goals on 35 shots. After the game, Tippett did not publicly disclose if Smith or Louis Domingue, who made four saves in relief vs. the Jets, would start Thursday's game at Minnesota.
• With the loss, Arizona's record dropped to 0-5-2 at MTS Centre since the Jets rejoined the NHL in 2011.
"Just too much time in your defensive zone," Tippett said. "You're going to have breakdowns. That's the law of averages. When you don't do enough offensively, you defend too much and that's what we did."