The Arizona Coyotes will be playing the Calgary Flames tonight, and I don't want to set expectations too high or anything, but it's probably the most important sporting event of all time.
The Coyotes have won three of their last four, including a nice little romp over the Canucks on Tuesday.
A win tonight would put them a single point behind the Flames with both teams having played 69 games.
A loss, however, would put the Coyotes five points back with just 13 games to go. Not a insurmountable deficit, but five points in the NHL standings is a pretty big game no matter how you look at it.
The wild card is a bit better, but you've got five teams competing for two spots, and three of the four teams Arizona is trying to beat have played less games, while all of them have better rosters.
But worse goalies.
So, the fate of the team lies with Darcy Kuemper.
If he can regain his untouchable ways, the Coyotes will make the playoffs. If not, we'll be forever wondering why the coach never bothered to try anyone but Christan Dvorak with Taylor Hall. (Although I did like seeing him with Keller recently).
Last game he played just under 12 minutes (all situations) and was the least used player on the team.
He spent 54 seconds with Hall and 43 seconds with Keller. Call me crazy, but I think you might get more out of a player like this by putting him in position to succeed at what he's good at.
It's not as if the Coyotes are firing on all cylinders and can't afford to mess with the chemistry of the vaunted Hall/Dvorak combination.
Anyways, game time tonight doesn't matter because we all have DVRs and can watch the game whenever we want. I myself will be viewing at after I attend a Two and a Half Men Season 2 re-watch party.
Just kidding I would never watch that show as am both literate and a fan of laughter.