The Coyotes lost 4-3 last night to the Preds in a shootout, in what was, to me at least, the most boring game of the year so far.
Despite there being a lot of scoring, the pace seemed off. The teams didn't seem to be into it, there didn't seem like there was any hate between them and it kind of felt like I was watching a pre-season game.
Or maybe I just kind of felt sick when I was watching the game and it was me who was off. That's a real thing and can happen, so I don't know, if you're reading this, let me know if you thought it was an unusually passive, boring game too, or if it was me.
Either way, the result wasn't all that bad. A point is better than nothing and you can't fault a team for losing in a shootout. It kind of sucks when the other team scores 20 seconds after you get what should be the game winning goal, but you can't really blame anyone.
Dubnyk provided the Coyotes with only their second competent goaltending performance of the season and it will be interesting to see how much he plays going forward. It was not like he was spectacular but I don't think any of the goals he let in were particularly awful. You could even argue he should have got the win because the Ribeiro goal was a fluke where the pass across ended up in the back of the net.
Speaking of Ribeiro, he had two points against his former team, while Erat potted one against his. Erat is the second all time leading scorer on the Predators. This is all very exciting, but some people should be made aware that it is in no way ironic when you score against your former team.
In other news, my friend Sam Gagner is now without a point on the season and I fail to see how playing Vermette 8 minutes more than him is going to help the team win more games. Vermette is just not an offensively creative player and while he's probably a better overall player, I think you have to play guys where they can succeed and that isn't happening right now.
Here's the thing: Vermette centering Korpikoski and Erat might actually be one of the better shutdown lines in the league. Why not play that line 20 minutes per night against the other team's top line and then skate Boedker-Gagner-Doan for an additional 20 against teams second lines.
I am not the coach, but that's what I would do.
Thanks for reading.
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