'Yotes Notes: Miller, Ducks Spoil Season Finale

GLENDALE --The Coyotes ran into a determined, playoff-bound team and a hot goalie on Saturday night in the season finale at Gila River Arena.
Arizona lost to Anaheim, 3-0, in front of a sellout crowd. Ducks goalie Ryan Miller, playing on a second consecutive night, stopped all 31 shots he faced.

"We had our fair share of chances," said Derek Stepan, who played 22:38 and won 11 of 17 face-offs. "I think their goaltender played strong, and so did ours, but that's a team that they're foundation is based on structurally being really sound defensively. They don't give you a whole lot, and when they do, Ryan Miller is there to stop it."

• The Coyotes failed to score on four power plays.
"I thought we were trying to do a little too much on the power play," Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. "It's usually good when you keep it simple and get the puck to the net. We were trying to go right through guys … and obviously that didn't work very well."

• Antti Raanta made 26 saves in his first game since signing a three-year contract with the Coyotes on Friday. He allowed a goal to Adam Henrique in the first period and a goal to Rickard Rakell in the second period. Hampus Lindholm scored an empty-net goal with 3.3 seconds to play.
"Anaheim, they played a strong game," Raanta said. "Everyone left everything on the ice, but sometimes puck luck isn't on your side ... It's tough to analyze the game right now. The season is over. Of course, we wanted to win the last game in front of our fans. I think we got the chances to score goals but couldn't find the back of the net today. Anaheim played a strong game and they were boxing out our guys. They scored a couple goals more than us, and that's pretty much it."

• Clayton Keller played a season-high 23:36 and took a team-high five shots on goal.
• The Coyotes played minus defenseman Kevin Connauton, who suffered an upper-body injury in Thursday's game at Vancouver. Joel Hanley, whom Arizona recalled from the American Hockey League on Saturday morning, replaced Connauton in the lineup and skated 12:38. He took one shot on goal and delivered one hit.
• Head Coach Rick Tocchet said the Coyotes looked tired in the finale.
"We just ran out of gas tonight," Tocchet said. "We had chances though to score. I thought Miller played really well. Taking this game aside, I thought the last 25-30 games we beat some really good hockey teams and I thought some of the young guys really progressed."

• After the game, the Coyotes remained on the ice and saluted the fans with stick waves. Then, each player took off his jersey and gave it to a pre-selected fan before heading to the dressing room.
"We wanted to get a win in front of our fans and that didn't happen," Ekman-Larsson said. "The Ducks have a good team and they have some really good players. It wasn't the game we were looking for. But at the same time I'm proud of the guys because it's not easy to play in these games that don't have anything standings-wise to play for."