'Yotes Notes: Rieder Shines in Loss to LA

GLENDALE -Tobias Rieder scored an eye-popping goal and hustled all night long on Thursday for the Coyotes, who lost a penalty-filled, one-goal game to Los Angeles at Gila River Arena.
The Kings won 4-3.
"I see a top-notch, excellent, 200-foot player," Head Coach Dave Tippett said of Rieder, who played 17:25, took five shots on goal, delivered a hit, and helped Arizona go 6 for 6 on the penalty kill. "…He's a dangerous player. The NHL is a fast league right now and he's a fast player. We've got some guys that should watch him play."

Rieder's goal was the prettiest goal of the game. Defenseman Alex Goligoski set it up with a precise stretch pass to Rieder, who got behind LA's defense and then beat goalie Jeff Zatkoff with a nifty backhanded shot at 13:50 of the third period. The goal pulled Arizona into a 3-3 tie just nine seconds after the Kings had taken a 3-2 lead with a flukey goal scored by Jordan Nolan.

"I wasn't really thinking a whole lot, but me and Goose (Goligoski) looked at each other and figured we were going to try that play, and it worked out well," Rieder said.
The Coyotes ultimately lost because they struggled to get the puck out of their zone in the latter stages of the third period. Trevor Lewis scored the game-winning goal from alone in front with just 4:05 to play.
"We got the puck on our stick a lot of times, and we turn it over," Rieder said. "That's how we get scored on a lot. We're always talking about gaining zones, so we've got to get the puck in deep and get our forecheck going."
• Mike Smith stopped 29 of 33 shots. Tippett said Smith wasn't to blame for the defeat.
"He was unlucky," Tippett said. "(He) made some great saves. He was unlucky even on the fourth goal. He makes a great save on a deflection after we turn it over and nobody picks up the guy in the middle. I'm sure he's very frustrated, just like the rest of us."
• Martin Hanzal scored Arizona's first two goals, both on power plays in the first period. It was the 12th multi-goal game of his career.
Hanzal scored his first goal at 0:15 of the first period on Arizona's first shot.
"I thought we were OK in the middle of the game, but then we started allowing turnovers and took too many penalties and didn't win any battles one on one," Hanzal said. "That's what cost us the game today."

The fastest goal to start a game in Coyotes/Jets franchise history was scored by Doug Smail on Dec. 20, 1981 vs. St. Louis. Smail scored just five seconds into that game.
• Michael Stone notched two assists and blocked a season-high seven shots, one shy of his career-high.
• Radim Vrbata assisted on Hanzal's first goal to extend his point streak to four games. He leads the Coyotes with 16 points.
• Oliver Ekman-Larsson returned to action after missing the third period of Tuesday's game because of an upper-body injury. He played a team-high 25:06, took three shots on goal and delivered three hits.
• Captain Shane Doan played in his 1,488th game to pass Wayne Gretzky and take sole possession of 19th place on the NHL's all-time games played list.
• The Coyotes have played 22 games; 16 have been one-goal games, including nine of the past 10.