No, sorry  this isn’t the beginning of a Paula Abdul song.  This is the summation of the Coyotes 3-5 loss at the hands of the LA Kings.  Long story short, the Coyotes built up a 3 – 1 lead in the second period and didn’t really put forth an effort to maintain or build upon the lead.  Playing only 20 minutes of ‘Coyotes’ style of hockey, the Kings took advantage of the Coyotes pulling back on the proverbial gas pedal and proceeded to score four unanswered goals.

It’s hard to say what exactly happened and where everything fell apart.  My guess based on the video I watched was the third period when the Kings tied it all up at three goals a piece. The usual Coyotes defensive discipline was not there and the Kings were allowed to practically score at will.

I don’t think people need to read into this as the Coyotes will have off days.  This is may especially come true since the Coyotes will play their next three games in four days and may not bring their ‘A’ game all three games.  If they do, it will be a HELL of a statement to the rest of the league.

Things to take from this game:

1) Never, ever, ever, ever leave Ryan Smyth (or any opponent for that matter) open in front of or around your goaltenders crease.

2) The Coyotes need to develop a killer instinct.  For whatever reason when the 3rd period rolled around, the Kings looked to get back into the game and they did by scoring 4 unanswered goals from the 19:02 mark of the second period until the end of the game.  This should have never happened.  What was needed was a show of force from the entire team and prevent the Kings from getting back into the game.

3) It takes 60 minutes to win a game – Not 20.  Not 40.  60 minutes of a winning effort is needed to be able to win in this league. The Coyotes only played 20 minutes of solid hockey in the second period.

Highlights from the game:

Game Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS020197.HTM

Event Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/ES020197.HTM

Play by Play:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/PL020197.HTM

Faceoff Stats:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC020197.HTM

Tippett’s post game presser:

http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/podcastplayer.htm?pid=337&iid=16624&navid=DL|PHX|home

Kings – Coach Murray’s post game presser:

Oh, what the hell….