Well it wasn’t the best of starts at the beginning. In the back of my mind I was wondering since this was the Coyotes first game since the 2002 season would they come out playing a bit nervous.

As everyone saw, they did. Vernon Fiddler was sent to the box for two extremely uncharacteristic penalties, goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov gave up a soft goal that he wasn’t event paying attention to. Coyotes fans should not even read into or worry about this part of the game. Just file it under ‘playoff butterflies’.

Once the Coyotes got their first goal they seemed to start to get into the flow of the game offensively and defensively. As the game progressed the Coyotes started to play ‘their’ game more and more.

I would have more here but the blackout restrictions of the NHL Gamecenter prevented me from doing a full game analysis.

Good things to take away from this game:

- The Power play and faceoffs dramatically improved two of the biggest issues for the Coyotes going into the post season were their lack of converting on the Power Play and winning faceoffs. The two main keys to their victory saw the Coyotes turn their weaknesses into strengths. Here’s an example of both of these points:

In this video, the Coyotes won a faceoff on the Power Play which leads to Morris scoring.

Keep away from the Detroit puck pressure As we stated in our series preview one of the two ways Detroit would defend against the puck carrier would be to pressure the puck carrier. Well, as you can see in the moments leading up to Wolski’s power play goal, the Coyotes had an answer to this. The movement of the puck to prevent the Red Wings from setting up their smothering defense was simply spectacular.

Just watch…

The Coyotes made a huge statement in game one and it was an entertaining game to watch. However this is a seven game series and this is just one win against a Red Wings team with astronomical playoff experience.

Friday will be an indicator of what direction this series is heading.

Game 1 Highlights:

Game Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030181.HTM

Event Summary:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/ES030181.HTM

Play by Play:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/PL030181.HTM

Face off:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC030181.HTM

Shootout Stats:

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/SO030181.HTM

Coach Dave Tippett addresses the media following Game 1 (Video Courtesy of PhoenixCoyotes.com):

Post game comments with Shane Doan (Video Courtesy of PhoenixCoyotes.com):

Post game comments with defenseman Derek Morris (Video Courtesy of PhoenixCoyotes.com):

Post game comments with defenseman Keith Yandle (Video Courtesy of PhoenixCoyotes.com):

Post game press conference with Red Wings Head Coach Mike Babcock: