When the Arizona Coyotes win, Nick Schmaltz usually has a significant role. That connection was never truer than Saturday, when the center piled up seven points in an 8-5 victory over the Ottawa Senators.
Schmaltz and his teammates will look to carry that momentum into a five-game road trip, which begins at Detroit against the Red Wings on Tuesday.
Schmaltz’s point total, which included two goals and five assists, was the most by any NHL player since Sam Gagner racked up eight points for Edmonton against Chicago on Feb. 2, 2012. Gagner is currently a member of the Red Wings.
“It was one of those nights where everything was kind of coming my way and everything was going in,” Schmaltz said. “So it was pretty special but obviously that doesn’t happen very often, so enjoy it and then get back to work.”
The Coyotes have an NHL-worst 36 points, but they’ve won four of their last six games. During that stretch, Schmaltz has recorded six goals and eight assists. He also has nine goals over his last nine games.
Schmaltz missed a chunk of time early in the season due to an upper-body injury, giving ample perspective that the Coyotes are a better team when he’s on the ice. Schmaltz has appeared in 36 games and notched 33 points.
In 11 victories, Schmaltz has 21 points. In the other 25 games, he has 12.
“Schmaltz has enough skill to play with those kinds of (top-level) guys, but at the same time he’s a versatile player,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “He can play on every line, can play on the wing, can play center. Whatever the identity of that line, he can fit right in. … He’s not a player who has just one role on the team, he can fill a lot of roles.”
He played the role of a prolific scorer on Saturday, setting a single-game franchise record for points. He can now help the Coyotes earn their third straight victory, something they haven’t done all season.
The Red Wings have lost four of their last five games. They were pummeled by Florida on Saturday, giving up six goals in the first two periods of a 6-2 defeat.
“We need to be better in a lot of areas,” Gagner said. “Forecheck better, break out of our end better, compete harder on pucks. There’s a lot that went wrong. … We have to play with more pace and we have to make decisions quicker and we didn’t do that enough. It’s certainly a learning experience and we have to keep growing.”
Detroit was highly competitive against two quality opponents prior to Saturday’s lopsided loss. It defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime, then dropped a 3-1 decision to Tampa Bay, with the Lightning scoring an empty-netter in the closing seconds.
However, in their last eight losses the Red Wings have given up a combined 51 goals.
“We have to make sure we do a better job of when we get down, to find a way to (get) back in it,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “I felt like as it went along, our compete level disappeared and that simply can’t happen with our hockey team.”
Arizona won the first meeting 2-1 in overtime on Nov. 20 with Clayton Keller scoring the game-winner.
–Field Level Media
