Phoenix Coyotes vs. Detroit Red Wings
Joe Lewis Arena – Detroit, Michigan
Puck Drops at 5:00PM Arizona Time
TV: Versus – RADIO: XTRA 910

Follow game analysis LIVE on our Twitter account:

http://www.twitter.com/azvibe

Last five games:
Red Wings: 1-2-2
Coyotes: 3 – 2 – 0
Last ten games:
Red Wings: 4 – 4 – 2
Coyotes: 4 – 5 – 1

The Phoenix Coyotes travel to Detroit to take on the injury plagued, yet resilient, Detroit Red Wings for the final time this season.  The two teams will battle in a game that will be shown on national television (Versus).  The Red Wings are coming off a loss to the LA Kings where they allowed three unanswered goals after taking a commanding 2-0 lead.  As you can see above they are 1-2-2 in their last 5 with their only win coming against the Minnesota Wild.

The Coyotes may be breathing a sigh of relief now that Coyote killer Tomas Holmstrom is out of the lineup.  If you may remember from an article I published not too long ago, Holmstrom has been a thorn in the side of the Coyotes defense as he has consistently found holes in the Coyotes stingy defense scoring three goals in the process.

Even with these facts about the Red Wings, they still are putting up impressive stats.

For example:

- Detroit’s Penalty Kill Unit has killed off 25 of 30 PP attempts
- Detroit’s Power Play Unit has a 17.2% success (5 for 29) rate in the last 10 games
- Young goaltender Jimmy Howard is 6th in the NHL in GAA at 2.23.

The Coyotes are coming off a tough loss to the Washington Capitals where they spent way too much time in the penalty box and made some mental errors that cost them the game (not to mention the Caps shutting down the Coyotes defensemen with shots on goal). They are playing a battered Red Wings team that they can beat….if they play solid Coyotes hockey.

Things to Watch for:

Todd Bertuzzi/Pavel Datsyuk/Henrik Zetterberg – Datsyuk and Zetterberg have seen their offensive output slow down over the past few weeks. The past few weeks have also seen the re-emergence of Todd Bertuzzi as a legitimate offensive weapon for the Red Wings. He may be a big body with a big presence on the ice but he can still skate and has amazing hands.

Coyotes stupid penalties – I’m going to put the over/under at 4 penalties.   Let’s see if they hit the over for the second game in a row.  (We reserve the right to negate this bet in the case of horrid officiating, Steve Perry fans, or people reciting lines from ‘Back to the Future’.

Keys to the game:

Stay. Out. Of. The. Penalty. Box. – Yeesh.

Bodies in front of the Wings goaltender – Whomever is starting, the Coyotes have to roll their sleeves up and get their hands dirty in front of the Red Wings goaltender. If the previous games are any indication, the Red Wings will crash the crease around their goaltender and eat up any rebounds that happen. The Coyotes need to get in there, bang bodies, and pick up those juicy rebounds.

Shut down the Wings shooting lanes – The Coyotes have allowed 71 shots on goal in the past two games. This is not acceptable. Bryz can only do so much when it comes to stopping pucks. Its time for the Coyotes to start limiting the opponents shooting lanes as well as blocking more shots.
Injuries:

Red Wings: Andreas Lilja, Johan Franzen, Jason Williams, Tomas Holmstrom

Coyotes: Daniel Winnik, Kurt Sauer

Officials:

Referees – Kevin Pollock-33 & Justin St. Pierre-45
Linesmen – Greg Devorski-54 & Steve Miller-89