from Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com,

The Arizona Coyotes have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the seventh straight season. Only the Buffalo Sabres' eight-season drought is longer. But consider this:

Despite losing 377 man-games to injuries, the Coyotes were in the race until the last minute of the second period of their second-to-last game.

Not until the Colorado Avalanche ended regulation tied 2-2 with the Winnipeg Jets at Pepsi Center on Thursday was Arizona eliminated; the Coyotes had a 3-1 lead against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena at the time. The Avalanche went on to win 3-2 in overtime; the Coyotes went on to win 4-1.

The Coyotes (39-34-8) have won 10 more games and gotten 16 more points in the standings than they did last season with one game left, against the Jets at Gila River Arena on Saturday.

"It stings," general manager John Chayka said. "But I'm a big believer you learn more from your failures than you do your successes.

"But at the same time, I don't consider this a failure. I think it's a ton of progress. I'm proud of this group. I have a lot of respect for this group. They did a lot of great things this year.

"We're not finished. We're just getting started. That's how I view it. Got a lot of things to build off of, so just keep building."

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