Phoenix Coyotes Hockey on AZ Vibe

Phoenix Coyotes vs Anaheim Ducks Jobing.com Arena – Glendale, AZ Puck Drops at 6:00 PM AZ Time TV: NHL Center Ice – No local TV Radio: XTRA 910

Yes, I know the Ducks no longer have any affiliation with Disney.

The Ducks, for the better part of this season, have been playing defense like they were a bunch of cartoon Donald Ducks.  Call it defensive incompetence, call it the Ducks missing Pronger’s presence, or whatever.  There’s no denying the Ducks have offensive power.   They’ve proved this time and time again. It’s just they lack the skills and depth to play solid defense on a regular basis.

At times this season, the Ducks have resembled the Toronto Maple Leafs at their worst and one of the best teams in the NHL at their best.  It’s the Leafs version of the Ducks that has been showing up more often than not.  Granted, they did put together a nice string of wins in January and part of February but have only been able to win 2 out of their last 5.

The Coyotes and Ducks meet for the final time in the regular season with the Coyotes leading the series 3-2.  This should be a good defensive test for the Coyotes going against the Ducks multiple gold medal winning Canadian hockey players two of which are the Ducks #1 and #2 leading scorers, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

The Coyotes new lineup amazed fans by showing new aspects to their anemic offense.  However, there’s only been one game since the trade deadline so let’s not plan any victory parades just yet.  The new depth to the Coyotes offensive attack has some tremendous possibilities but they need to be realized and leveraged by the Coaching staff to get the full benefits on the score sheet.

Things to watch for:

Taylor Pyatt – If he’s in the lineup tonight, let’s see if he gets the message that his play in the last 10 games was completely and uttely unacceptable.

Ducks – Will their defense still be the short little yellow school bus of the NHL on the road?

Keys to the game:

Shut down the Ducks offense - This is one of these games where the Coyotes have to bring their ‘A’ game against the Ducks high powered offense.  No way they can allow any Ducks players to score.

It’s ok to take some risks on offense - Teams are used to the Coyotes perimeter play when the Coyotes go on the Power Play.  This must change.  Take some shots into traffic, go to the net.  Do things that the opponents are not expecting.  There were too many times in the Divealanche game where the Coyotes had prime scoring chances but the given Coyotes player thought about the situation too much and didn’t react properly to wide open goals.

Power Play – The Coyotes need to start showing some signs of life on the Power Play if they expect to not only make the playoffs but go deep as well.  The Coyotes managed zero shots on goal in 3:30 seconds of power play time against the Divealanche the other night.  Unacceptable.

Injuries/Scratches:

Ducks: Joffrey Lupul(IR)

Coyotes: Kurt Sauer(IR), Scottie Upshall(IR)

Referees #13 Dan O’Halloran; #44 David Banfield
Linesmen #80 Thor Nelson; #86 Brad Lazarowich