Alex Kovalev scores pair to lead the Ottawa Senators over the Phoenix Coyotes
Ottawa Senators forward Alex Kovalev finally got his season off the ground as he collected two goals and one assist to lead his team to a 5-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday night.
How it happened
The Coyotes were playing their second game on the east coast in as many nights and the Senators took full advantage. In the first, Kovalev got his first of the season a franchise record nine seconds after
Erik Karlsson had opened the scoring on the power play.
The Sens were up 3-0 going into the first intermission after Chris Kelly scored at 14:45 of the period.
The Coyotes got a lifeline when Sami Lepisto scored the only goal of the second period with his first of the season.
The Coyotes looked to challenge Ottawa when they scored in the third period from Keith Yandle to reduce the deficit to 3-2. But Kovalev's second of the night less than a minute later put the game away.
Daniel Alfredsson added another goal on the power play for extra insurance, scoring his fifth of the season, and sealing the game up at 5-2.
What they're saying
Kovalev was obviously pleased with his performance and happy for his team to get a win.
"It's one of those games … finally, a little luck turned around and started going my way," he said. "It was definitely nice to get a couple of goals.
"It feels better to get yourself going and start contributing to the team. We're not playing well lately, so it'd be nice to start a winning streak."
Coyotes goalie, Jason LaBarbera, was pulled after the first period, and replaced by Ilya Bryzgalov, after giving up three goals in the first period which saw the Coyotes outshot by the Senators 20-8. But
Coyotes captain Shane Doan, back in the lineup after serving a three-game suspension, wasn't about to start pointing the finger at his goalie.
"He didn't get any help," Doan said. "The first one was an empty net and then Kovalev has a great shot. The third one bounces off our guy and you can't do anything about that, but we've got to give him
more help. We put ourselves in a position where we had to chase the game all night."
The Coyotes have now lost three in a row and travel to Detroit to take on the Red Wings on Thursday 28 October.
The Senators continue their four-game home stand against the Florida Panthers also on Thursday.
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