Phoenix Coyotes Hockey on AZ Vibe

The Coyotes are home after a short road trip to host the head scratching Anaheim Ducks.  I say head scratching as they seem to be a Jekyll and Hyde type of team as you never know what team is going to show up on the ice at any given moment.  Last night they trapped their way to a 7-2 victory over the extremely injury depleted Vancouver Canucks.

The Coyotes and Ducks play the first of six games tonight at the Job and I can’t really say how the Ducks will come out of the gate.  They have the tools to be a competitive team on a nightly basis but they just haven’t been getting it done.

The Ducks are 4-6-1 overall (2-5-0 at home, 2-1-1 on the road and 0-2-0 against the Pacific Division).  In addition, like Toronto, the Ducks have one of the Best Power Play units in the league (#9) and one of the worst Penalty Kills in the League (29th out of 30 teams).

Coyotes Keys to the Game

1) Discipline – Keep up the great defensive discipline that the Coyotes have been doing for the majority of their games.

2) No Stupid penalties – Not sure if Upshall is back up in the lineup but you do not want to give the Ducks the opportunity to go on their potent Power Play.

3) It’s ok to hit – Not sure if this is part of  Tippett’s system or not but if the Ducks are going to try to trap the Coyotes, (responsible) hitting can help keep the game in check.

Current Points Streaks:

Coyotes – Fiddler and Winnik at three games a piece

Ducks – Corey Perry (4 games), Ryan Getzlaf (4 games), Scott Niedermayer (3 games), Bobby Ryan (2 Games)

Injuries:

Coyotes – Kurt Sauer

Ducks – Jean Sebastian-Giguere is Day to Day with a Groin Strain.

Officials for tonight’s game:

Referee’s – Paul Devorski and Stephen Walkom

Linesmen – Darren Gibbs and Derek Amell

First off, I’ve posted some more new quotes, links and whatnot to the ‘Say What?!?!’ page. If any of you ever come across something positive said about the Coyotes in the media, just post the link here:

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=694311

…and I’ll look the link over and post it on the page.

Transactions

As you may have heard by now, the Coyotes have reassigned Sean Sullivan back to San Antonio.

Shane Doan Bobblehead Night – January 16

The Coyotes announced that on January 16th at the game against the Minnesota Wild, the first 10,000 fans in attendance will receive a Shane Doan Bobblehead figure courtesy of Desert Schools Federal Credit Union.

This has been added to our 09/10 Season Promotional Schedule Page.

Schedule Changes

The Coyotes announced two schedule changes recently.

1) The November 23rd game against Edmonton will be televised live on FSNAZ at 7 PM (Arizona Time)
2) The December 26th Game against the LA Kings will now start at 7:00 PM (Arizona Time)

Coyotes add Eight games to the TV schedule.

This is kind of a good news/bad news item here.

The good news is obviously that there are eight more games that will be added to the TV broadcast scherdule.

The (somewhat) bad news is that 1) they will be tape delayed and 2) the broadcast play by play will be done by the opposing team’s TV people.

Here’s the schedule:

Nov. 14: Stars at Coyotes – 11:45 p.m. (FOX Sports Southwest – HD)
Dec. 23: Ducks at Coyotes – 11:00 p.m. (Prime Ticket aka FSN Los Angeles – HD)
Jan. 21: Predators at Coyotes – 10:30 p.m. (FOX Sports South)
Jan. 31: Coyotes at Stars – 8:30 p.m. (FOX Sports Southwest – HD)
Feb. 10: Coyotes at Wild – 10:30 p.m. (FOX Sports North – HD)
March 13: Coyotes at Hurricanes – 8:30 p.m. (FOX Sports South)
*** this was originally scheduled to be televised live
April 7: Predators at Coyotes – 11:00 p.m. (FOX Sports South)

You can say it’s a bad thing but look at it like this.  You can see how other teams broadcasters approach the game from a different perspective.

The Coyotes beat the Blues last night in a very tight defensive game 2-0.  Now most people this morning who watched the game or are reading the game recap on their favorite cookie cutter type sports sites over morning coffee.  Most, if not all of these articles are probably focusing on how Coyotes Goaltender Ilja Bryzgalov stood on his head and earned his league leading third shut out this season.   However, that’s wasn’t the only story from the game.

Not to take away from Bryzgalov’s awesome performance as he played a hell of a game but the important thing to note is the chemistry developing on the Coyotes roster.

In this case, it was the performance of the line of Taylor Pyatt, Daniel Winnik and Vernon Fiddler.

This line was responsible for both Coyotes goals last night and all three ended up with a +2 for the game. They displayed the potential of this roster when they’re clicking together as this line was last night.

For example, here’s the Coyotes second goal scored by Taylor Pyatt (his first of the season and first as a Coyote).  Pay attention to how the play develops through the neutral zone when Pyatt passes the puck to Fiddler and then is passed back to Pyatt through the defenders legs for the goal.

Pretty damn slick, eh?

I’m still going to wait until the 1/4 point of the season to make a solid assessment of the Coyotes. Based on past experience and given the nature of the way Tippett was brought into the team, the Coyotes need at least that much time before fans will be able to see what this team is made of.

That said, the play of Pyatt, Winnik, and Fiddler last night is a great sign that the ship is indeed sailing in the right direction.

Chemistry is developing.

Game Highlights:

Game Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS020168.HTM

Event Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/ES020168.HTM

Play by Play:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/PL020168.HTM

Faceoff Stats:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC020168.HTM

Dave Tippett post game press conference:

http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/podcastplayer.htm?pid=337&iid=16462&navid=DL|PHX|home

Post Game podcast Daniel Winnik:

http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/podcastplayer.htm?pid=335&iid=16461&navid=DL|PHX|home

Blues – Coach Andy Murray’s post game press conference

http://blues.nhl.com/club/podcastplayer.htm?pid=343&iid=16455

Blues – Eric Brewer and Ty Conklin post game comments:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Post Game Article:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/blues/story/A713C1333BE63C398625765F00117A77?OpenDocument

The Coyotes and Blues will faceoff at the Scottrade Center tonight in a rematch of a controversial ending in their first matchup of the season.  The two teams last played in Phoenix where the Coyotes came out with a 3-2 OT victory on October 15th.

Both teams are playing back to back games as the Blues are coming off a lengthy one game road trip where beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2.  Chris Mason stopped 34 shots in the Blues victory.

This is the last game of the Coyotes road trip and will be home for a quick home stand of two games.

Special teams for game could be interesting as the Coyotes Rank 11th in the League in the Power Play (23.1%) and the Blues rank 15th in the NHL in the Penalty Kill (78.3%).  On the other hand, the Blues rank 26th in the NHL in the Power Play (15.8%) and the Coyotes rank 21st in the NHL on the Penalty Kill (76.6%)

The Blues and Coyotes both have three wins and two losses in their last five games.

Point Streaks:

Coyotes: Ed Jovanovski (3 Games) Daniel Winnik (2 Games) Vernon Fiddler (2 Games)

Blues: David Perron (3 games) Roman Polak (2 Games)

Officials for tonight’s game:

Dan O’Halloran – Referee
Ian Walsh – Referee
Scott Driscoll – Linesman
Brad Lazarowich – Linesman

Notes:

• Coyotes re-assigned Sean Sullivan back to San Antonio today
• Eric Brewer is back in the lineup for the Blues
• Blues D-Man Barett Jackman participated in the morning skate.  No word on if he’s going to play or not.
• Blues scratches look to be DJ King, Alex Steen, TJ Oshie, and possibly Barett Jackman.
• Coyotes scratches not available at press time.  It was reported that Upshall will be sitting (Stupid Penalties in Columbus) tonight.

Ok this is gonna be brief.  Gotta put together the pre-game article for the Blues game….

Great effort last night from the team, Upshall’s stupid penalties excluded.  The effort from the entire team was a great character statement after the loss to the Rangers the other night.

The Coyotes took advantage of the way the Jackets lost control of the game in a big fashion.  From the second period on, the Jackets seemed to just stop trying and the Coyotes made them pay.

The Coyotes played with a great attitude and when the killer instinct was needed to put the Jackets away for good, they raised their games and made sure a comeback of any sort was not possible.

Great overall effort by Jason LaBarbera who has only allowed 4 goals on 84 shots and has a 1.59 GAA.

On to St. Louis….

Game Highlights:

<iframe width=”480″ height=”289″ frameborder=”0″ src=”http://www.nhl.tv/team/embed.jsp?hlg=20092010,2,158″></iframe>

Game Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS020158.HTM

Event Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/ES020158.HTM

Play by Play:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/PL020158.HTM

Face off Stats:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC020158.HTM

Dave Tippett post game press conference:

http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/podcastplayer.htm?pid=337&iid=16419&navid=DL|PHX|home

Post Game Comments from Jason LaBarbera:

http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/podcastplayer.htm?pid=335&iid=16418&navid=DL|PHX|home

Post Game comments from Blue Jackets Coach Ken Hitchcock:

<iframe width=”480″ height=”289″ frameborder=”0″ src=”http://bluejackets.nhl.tv/team/embed.jsp?catid=-5&id=49961″></iframe>

Post Game comments from Blue Jackets Captain Rick Nash:

<iframe width=”480″ height=”289″ frameborder=”0″ src=”http://bluejackets.nhl.tv/team/embed.jsp?catid=-5&id=49958″></iframe>

Post Game comments from Mike Commodore:

<iframe width=”480″ height=”289″ frameborder=”0″ src=”http://bluejackets.nhl.tv/team/embed.jsp?catid=-5&id=49960″></iframe>

Post game article from the Columbus Dispatch:

http://www.bluejacketsxtra.com/live/content/sports/stories/2009/10/29/jackets_10-29.ART_ART_10-29-09_C1_Q0FGQIA.html?sid=101

Well, this was a stinker from start to finish. No way to beat around the bush.

Starting with the first fluke goal scored by the Rangers to the end of the game this was a bad game that needs to be forgotten….to an extent.

One of the main challenges the Coyotes faced was not the Rangers but the officiating. One no call and two key Coyotes penalties pretty much sealed the fate of the Coyotes.

The no call was when a Rangers player ran over Bryzgalov pretty badly and shook him up. He really wasn’t ‘on’ after that incident and his previous stellar play withered and faded.

The two bad calls involved a dive by….guess who….Sean Avery that led to a Power Play goal. The other was a hooking call on Michalek that seemed to be nothing more than a puck/positional battle.

From here, I can probably go into a long dissertation about the officiating but that wouldn’t serve any purpose for the team….or anything for that matter.

The lessons that needs to be taken from this game are these:

1) The Coyotes need to learn to keep their attitude/composure when situations like when an opposing team scores a fluke goal to start the game or when the officiating is crappy like it was in the first and second periods.

2) The Coyotes need to believe they are the better team on the ice at all times. They were the better team on the ice but that didn’t translate on the scoreboard. Even after the game one comment I heard from Rangers Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (if memory serves) was that the Coyotes are fast. Consider that the beginning of a reputation that’s going to get in the minds of opposing teams going forward.

3) The Coyotes need to protect their goaltender with a ‘Fuck Off’ attitude when the whistle stops play.  Keep the opponents out of Bryzgalov’s/LaBarbera’s crease.

The thing is with the Coyotes right now is that they fully don’t know or believe that they’re a good team. They’re not all on the same page right now and some are clearly not carrying their weight on the ice.

This was a beatable Rangers team and if the Coyotes were all on the same page during the game AND believed that they could beat the Rangers, this game would have had a different outcome.

To quote the movie ‘The Matrix’ “…there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.”

This line definitely applies to the Coyotes.

Game highlights:

Game Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS020148.HTM

Event Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/ES020148.HTM

Play by Play:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/PL020148.HTM

Individual Faceoff Stats:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC020148.HTM

Tippett’s Post Game Comments:

http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/podcastplayer.htm?pid=337&iid=16343&navid=DL|PHX|home

Post Game Wrapup:

http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/podcastplayer.htm?pid=335&iid=16378&navid=DL|PHX|home

Vernon Fiddler Post Game comments:

http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/podcastplayer.htm?pid=335&iid=16344&navid=DL|PHX|home

Rangers Coach John Torterella’s post game comments:

Rangers player post game comments:

Post Game Article from the New York Daily News:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/rangers/2009/10/26/2009-10-26_martin_gaborik.html

Post Game Article from the New York Post:

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/rangers/rangers_top_coyotes_snap_game_losing_EtmI1lQPPgGZq7pGv7r1II

New York Post Article about Petr Prucha:

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/rangers/ex_ranger_prucha_revitalized_in_8Ey8Z00rTyPw3KrDwIjG5O

Starting yesterday, the NHL has a Facebook Page!

http://www.facebook.com/NHL

This is a pretty fan friendly page compared to other Fan pages on Facebook.  Check it out!

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BILL DALY STATEMENT

REGARDING THE PHOENIX COYOTES

NEW YORK (October 26, 2009) — Bill Daly, deputy commissioner of the National Hockey League, today released the following statement:

“In Phoenix today, a tentative agreement was reached among the parties to amend the NHL’s offer to purchase the Coyotes franchise out of bankruptcy, and a proposed order, mutually agreed to by the parties, will be filed with the Court seeking approval of the NHL’s amended bid.

“If there is no objection from the parties involved, and subject to any potential objections and a hearing if necessary, the parties hope to close the sale of the Club to the NHL by Monday, November 2.

“It remains the NHL’s intention upon taking control of the Club to stabilize the Club’s operations and, as quickly as possible, to re-sell the Club to a new owner who is committed to operating the Club in the Glendale/Phoenix market.”

This clip from the Movie Kindergarden Cop sums up how the Coyotes lost against the Kings:

This game was lost because of many key mental errors, missed assignments that led to goals, and just a complete and lack of the Coyotes having their heads in the game. The list of things that went wrong for the Coyotes is long and the items to include in the list is many and varied.

That said, the point where the game was lost was two separate series of stupid penalties (for lack of a better sugar coated word) in the second period. The first was a holding penalty by Petr Prucha that led to a Kings PP goal. The second series of stupid penalties started with a too many men on the ice on the Coyotes followed by two quick penalties in succession with a Radim Vrbata Tripping call followed up not even a minute later with an EXTREMELY undisciplined crosschecking penalty Zbynek Michalek. The Kings scored on this Power Play as well.

The Coyotes were able to make a game of it but it seemed that the lack of discipline continued onto the Simmonds goal (with a breakdown in coverage allowing Simmonds to basically walk up to Bryzgalov’s doorstep and score) and the amazingly stupid too many men on the ice penalty with around a minute to play in the game.

The Coyotes play the surprising Rangers today. After watching a few Rangers game this season I can say this:

If the Coyotes play this same undisciplined hockey against the Rangers tonight, it’s going to be a long night.

Game Highlights:

Game Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS020142.HTM

Event Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/ES020142.HTM

Play By Play:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/PL020142.HTM

Faceoff Stats:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC020142.HTM

Tippett Post Game Press Conference:

Post Game Video:

Coyotes GM Don Maloney will be on  NHL Live this Monday from 9-11 AM (Arizona Time). You can listen in live via NHL.com, watch on the NHL Network, or on XM Satellite Radio Channel 204.

Other guests on Monday’s show will be Colin Campbell, TSN Analyst Bob McKenzie, and Doug Armstrong.

Questions can be e-mailed to: nhllive@xmradio.ca

You can also call in and ask questions by calling: 1-877-NHL-ON-XM