RALEIGH The Arizona Coyotes’ graybeard captain, Shane Doan, will spend another March and April out of the playoff race, finishing his 21st season with the same franchise he started his career with in 1995.That doesn’t mean Doan is going to coast through the rest of the 2016-17 campaign.The 40-year-old had two key assists, one on Arizona’s first goal and another on the third-period game-winner, and sealed the win with an empty-net power play goal with 58.3 seconds left to will the Coyotes past the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Friday at PNC Arena.Doan stole a pass by Carolina defenseman Ryan Murphy behind the Hurricanes net and found Jordan Martinook alone in the slot for the go-ahead goal with just under 11 minutes remaining. “We turned it over on the game-winner, right?” Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. “So when you turn pucks over in tough spots, some bad things happen. And we did turn too many pucks over in both the offensive zone … and then the game-winner is off a D-zone turnover is what it is.”It was also another night of missed opportunities for Carolina, who outshot the Coyotes 34-22 but managed to score just twice in a 2:19 span from the end of the first to the beginning of the season period.In the game’s first six minutes, Carolina could have easily scored three times. Instead, Phil Di Giuseppe hit a post, and so did Jaccob Slavin. Then Elias Lindholm walked in on Coyotes goalie Louis Domingue, faked him out, and pushed the puck wide of a wide open net.”So we never led, that [Lindholm chance] would give you a lead,” Peters said. “To me, those are huge plays.” Arizona took advantage. On an odd-man rush up the ice, Doan backhanded a pass from the left boards to the edge of the right circle directly to Christian Dvorak, who deposited the puck past Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward (19 saves) for a 1-0 lead at 11:34 of the first period.With 2:31 left in the first, Arizona padded their lead on another counter-attack. Former Hurricanes forward Radim Vrbata found defenseman Alex Goligoski joining the rush and he beat Ward above the blocker for a 2-0 lead.”I don’t think we gave up a crazy amount, but when we did they were big chances, and that’s not going to help you win,” Hurricanes center Jordan Staal said.Carolina found some life with a late first-period goal. Jay McClement playing his 900th NHL game cleanly won back an offensive zone faceoff, and Slavin’s point shot was redirected by Lee Stempniak past Domingue for his 12th goal of the year and a one-goal deficit with 49 seconds left in the opening period.”A little bit, but I’m just trying to stick to my game and just when the chance is there, take it,” Slavin said of jumping in the play more often. He now has assists in three straight games.It then took the Hurricanes just 90 seconds in the second period to tie it up. Teuvo Teravainen battled through two Coyotes players and found Jordan Staal alone in front for an easy tap in and a 2-2 tie.The rest of the second period lacked flow, with four combined penalties called and no goals scored, setting Carolina up for another tight finish. But the Hurricanes fell short again, dropping their fourth straight, and will complete the back end of the unique cross-country home-and-home with the Coyotes in Arizona on Sunday.Peters talks LackPeters addressed his comments about backup goaltender Eddie Lack from after Friday’s morning skate where, in a nearly minute-long rant, he said Lack was “not good enough” Wednesday against Tampa Bay and needed to “earn some respect from your teammates.” When asked following the game, Peters said he did not regret his public criticism of Lack.”No, that’s just being honest,” Peters said. “You guys want it to be a competition for starts and you’ve gotta have competition to be a competition, correct? You know what I mean? I can’t just give people stuff for free in pro sports, that’s not how it works.”Peters agreed that he hasn’t often in the past been critical of one of his players. “Very rare,” he said.Notes: Jeff Skinner was penalized twice, including for interference with 2:37 remaining and Carolina in the midst of pulling Ward for an extra attacker. … Peters again praised Di Giuseppe, who finished with an assist, three shots and six hits. … Doan’s three-point night was his first since Feb. 12, 2016.
