Phoenix Coyotes Hockey on AZ Vibe

Coyotes vs. Minnesota Wild

Jobing.com Arena – Glendale, AZ -
January 16th, 2010 – Puck drops at 6:00 PM AZ Time
No Local TV (Game is on NHL Center Ice/Gamecenter) – Radio: XTRA – 910 AM

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Recent records:

Last five games:
Wild: 4 – 1 – 0
Coyotes: 2 – 2 – 1

Last ten games:
Wild: 5 – 5 – 0
Coyotes: 4 – 3 – 3

Hmmm….

Looking at the season series as it stands right now, there’s tons of similarities in between the two games:

1) The Coyotes won both of them
2) Ilya Bryzgalov and Niklas Backstrom started both games in Goal
3) Scottie Upshall scored the game winning goals in both of them

What does this all mean? I don’t know!

Ok, Pee Wee Herman moment over.

As you note above the Wild are 4 and 1 in their last five games beating some VERY good teams (Vancouver, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Calgary). They seemed to have found the right chemistry by making Petr Sykora a healthy scratch in the last five games. This has caused quite a stir with Wild fans and Sykora’s agent, Allan Walsh.

If you want to read more about the stir with fans and Sykora’s agent, check out the Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Mike Russo’s (the Wild’s beat writer) blogs/articles about what’s going on:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/81815147.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUBP7hUiacyKUUr

http://www.startribune.com/blogs/81880937.html

The thing with the Wild is that they are a talented team….when they’re all on the same page together. For whatever reason, they haven’t played anything that can be deemed ‘consistent hockey’ since approximately the end of November 2009 to beginning of December of 2009.

Sure one can breakdown the problems with the Wild to the smallest detail. However, it all starts with everyone playing together on the ice at the same time.

The Coyotes seem to be coming out of some extremely inconsistent play since the start of the new year. Injuries and lack of discipline in their defensive zone are but two of the handful of challenges that the Coyotes seemed to have worked through….kind of.

Things to watch for:

The Wild – I have no idea which Minnesota Wild team is going to show up tonight. Someone let me know which one shows up, ok?

Petr Sykora – Will he or won’t he play? Is he trade bait? Will his agent Allan Walsh ever reply to my tweets?

Shane Doan Bobblehead – It’s Shane Doan Bobblehead night tonight. Will the Bobblehead be a healthy scratch tonight or will he be in the lineup as part of the celebration? It would be a crime not to put the Shane Doan Bobblehead in the lineup tonight as he matches up perfectly with the raw speed of Owen Nolan.

Keys to the game:

Minimize mistakes/discipline – The majority of the goals the Coyotes have allowed have been from mistakes in the Coyotes defensive zone. Some of these mistakes could have been avoided had various Coyotes players been more focused on their assignments.

Improve the offensive zone game – Tonight’s game is a prime opportunity for the Coyotes to work on their offensive zone game. As people saw in the Devils game, their transition and offensive zone games are far from satisfactory.

Petr Sykora – I can’t think of a third key to the game right now so I’m just gonna repeat Skyora’s name a bunch of times. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora. Petr Sykora.

Notes:

- Today is Injured Coyotes defenseman Kurt Sauer’s birthday

- The Boston Globe reported today that the Coyotes and Bruins will open the 2010-2011 season in the Czech Republic.

- As noted above, it’s Shane Doan Bobblehead night tonight at the Job. The first 10,000 fans through the gate get a Bobblehead.

Officials:
Referees – #10 Paul Devorski; #21 Don Van Massesnhoven
Linesmen – #56 Mark Wheeler; #91 Don Henderson