The Coyotes put on an impressive display of discipline, smart hockey and dare I say……chemistry in their beating of the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Job. From the opening faceoff the Coyotes took control of the game. However, the Blue Jackets were never really in the game. Even though the Blue Jackets had 36 minutes in penalties, the majority of the goals were scored on even strength.

Of those even strength goals, the Blue Jackets made mental error after mental error in their coverage in their defensive zone allowing the Coyotes to pretty much walk up and score goals without coverage in some cases.

For whatever reason the Blue Jackets were not ‘on’ against the Coyotes causing numerous lapses/holes in their transition game. fortunately the Coyotes made them pay dearly for the majority of them exploiting every weakness in their defensive scheme.

Here’s an example of a breakdown in the Blue Jackets coverage

However, the main concern for Coyotes fans from this game was the ability to convert on only one power play opportunity which was Upshall’s goal in the third:

As for the newest Coyotes Anders Eriksson, he played around 11 minutes of ice time but looked great in the time that he played getting an assist and a blocked shot. One of the concerns of Eriksson was if he could keep up with the speed of the Coyotes system. All I can say is….so far…so good.

The Coyotes probably played the closest to 60 minutes of solid, disciplined hockey this season but their performance still wasn’t to the level of their potential. It’s a great win and they played pretty damned well. However, they still have some adjustments to make in the system to get it to the ‘well oiled machine’ levels.

Highlights from the game:

Dave Tippett’s postgame presser

Post game comments from Upshall, Lombardi, Erikkson

Game Summary

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS020541.HTM

Event Summary

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/ES020541.HTM

Play by Play

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/PL020541.HTM

Faceoff Stats

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC020541.HTM