I had to watch this game again today (slept most of Sunday after working 19 straight hours and not falling asleep for another 5-6 hours after that) as I needed to analyze what the ‘h-e-double hockey sticks’ happened with the third period meltdown.

I mean the Coyotes played a perfect game for the first and the better part of the second, right? Everyone saw that.

Granted, the exception in the first part of the game would be where the Coyotes gave up three odd man rushes. From the two of the three rushes I looked at, this was nothing more than the Wild capitalizing on Coyotes defensemen joining the forwards down low for scoring chances. The Coyotes then got caught when the Wild happened to get possession of the puck on bad passes and started their breakouts.

I’m not going to really focus on that. When defensemen take the risk of joining in on scoring chances, odd man rushes can happen.

The third period of this game has to be one of the sloppiest games I’ve ever seen. The Coyotes played with what can be called the polar opposite of a killer instinct. Anyways, during the third, the game simply de-evolved as both teams seemed to have deployed their Swiss Cheese defensive packages.

For those of you who are new to the term ‘Swiss Cheese defense’, it means that both teams defenses were full of holes.

So what happened?

1) Poor defensive coverage

There’s two main things I noticed on the two third period power play goals was that the Coyotes was that the Wild had clearly watched the game tapes of the Coyotes and found one of their weaknesses….

The Coyotes defensemen (when in their defensive zone) don’t seem to pay attention to everything that goes on around them on the ice.

I wanted to get a good example of this but clip from the Wild game will work. This is the first powerplay goal for the Wild in the Third period. Notice how Latendresse just sneaks in from behind the goal line and deflects the puck in:

I couldn’t tell if the Coyotes were supposed to be playing a 1-2-1 coverage on the penalty kill or were they just playing really bad undisciplined defense on those two third period power play goals they gave up. Regardless, the Coyotes are allowing players to slip behind their coverage and in front of Bryzgalov unnoticed and untouched. The Red Wings did this as well the last time they played the Coyotes.

2) Bryzgalov’s 3 and 4 holes

Now, one thing I’ve been keeping an eye on is a trend I’ve been noticing over the course of the season. Opponents seem to be honing in on a specific aspect in Bryzgalov’s game. His 3 and 4 hole are anything but solid right now. He’s given up lots goals of goals (many of them soft) through these holes.

Hockey 101 – The Goaltender has 5 ‘holes’ or areas he must cover during a game. The Holes are as follows:

1 Hole – Glove Side High – This is the area between the goaltenders mask and his glove arm
2 Hole – Glove Side Low – This is the area between the goaltenders glove arm and his leg
3 Hole – Stick Side High – This is the area between the goaltenders mask and his stick side arm
4 Hole – Stick Side Low – This is the area between the goaltenders stick side arm and his leg
5 Hole – The Area between the goaltenders legs

So take a look at this video of Owen Nolan scoring his powerplay goal. Watch where the goal goes in…

Now look at this video of Bryzgalov versus the Detroit Red Wings on December 14th, 2009 and where the goal was allowed…

….and this one against the Islanders recently.

Something to work on….

Game hi lights

Dave Tippett’s post game presser

Game Summary

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS020717.HTM

Event Summary

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/ES020717.HTM

Play by Play

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/PL020717.HTM

Face off stats

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC020717.HTM