Phoenix Coyotes @ Colorado Avalanche
Pepsi Center – Denver, Colorado
Puck Drops at 7:00 PM
Game will be shown on FSN Arizona

In what could be one of the better matchups in this young season, the Coyotes travel to Denver to face the surprising Colorado Avalanche. Puck drops at 7:00 PM on FSNAZ.

One of the main reasons why the Colorado Avalanche’s play at the start of this season is so surprising is mainly because of the Front Office incompetence for the previous seasons practically ran the team into the ground. The re-hiring of Tony Granato as the Avalanche coach sent the team and fans into a tailspin along with extremely questionable on ice personnel decisions.

This season has seen the Avs take a 180 degree turn in their team to the top of the NHL rankings. There’s been many little things that could be the reason behind the Avs Turnaround:

• The hiring of un-proven coach Joe Sacco
• Rookie Matt Duchene making the roster at age 18 AND being a solid contributor every night.
• The Avs being relatively injury free for the first time in a long time
• The unloading of Ryan Smyth’s contract to the LA Kings
• The emergence of Craig Anderson as a solid force in the net

One could find other reasons for the turnaround of the Avs.  However, the main point is that the Avs are for real so far this season.

Things to watch for:

1) Since Craig Anderson probably won’t get the start in net tonight, keep an eye on Rookie Matt Duchene. He may not play like a seasoned veteran but does he have skills, passion, drive and an excellent work ethic on the ice.

2) What Coyotes team is going to show up? – Having the next three games (against great teams) in four nights at home and on the road is going to be a great test for the Coyotes. This will be the start of a great mental and physical challenge for the team. Also, this will be a great indicator for fans to see what this team is really made of.

Coyotes Keys to the game:

1) Discipline – It takes 60 minutes to win a game.  The Coyotes need to maintain defensive discipline to be able to win.

2) Keep the Avs in Check – The Avs are not only off to their second best start in franchise history (10-3-2) but they are also undefeated at home this season. The Coyotes have the ability to win this game as the Avs are beatable. However, it’s going to take Key #1 to be able to make this happen.

3) Establishing the Offensive zone – This was a major problem with the Coyotes in their game against the kings and we will see if this challenge with the Coyotes has been resolved. To be able to do this the Coyotes will have to look at Game Keys #2 and #1.

Game notes:

- Peter Budaj is expected to start in net for the Avs for the first time this season
- Scott Upshall is out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury.
- Mikkel Boedker was called up from San Antonio to take Upshall’s place in the lineup
- Peter Muller is back in the Lineup for the Coyotes

Injuries:

Coyotes:  Upshall and Kurt Sauer
Avs: T.J. Galiardi, Matt Hendricks, Tom Preissing, Ruslan Salei, and Darcy Tucker

Officials:

Referees: Brad Meier and Brian Pochmara
Linesmen: Mark Shewchyk and Dan Schachte