Follow @james_tanner123 The Coyotes will be in Montreal tonight to take on the Habs, who have an incredible 14-3-2 record, despite losing Carey Price for ten games.
The Coyotes will have the good fortune to avoid Price, but really, there has been almost no difference, so other than psychologically, I can't imagine it matters too much who the Canadiens put in goal.
Arizona is coming off back-to-back 5-2 losses, so a game against one of the league's better teams is not exactly a dream match-up. Still, we must keep in mind that this is a team that signed Antoine Vermette to be its second-best centre, and he has - as expected - not performed well, putting up just a single 5v5 assist and a 45% CF rating in 12 games, and has just two points overall despite playing over 15 minutes per game. So even though the Coyotes are dressing but a single theoretical NHL centre, they have managed a .500 record.
However, by virtue of the second highest shooting percentage in the NHL and the fourth-worst Corsi, the Coyotes are an extreme longshot to play the rest of the season anywhere close to their current .500 pace.
Especially when you consider their centre ice position, their goatending and the holes they have on the backend. While popular with fans, Dahlbeck, Grossmann and Michalek are so bad from a possession standpoint that anything they do do well is ruined.
The good news is that Stephan Elliott has filled in admirably while Grossmann has been out, falling just short of being the only Coyotes defensemen besides OEL to climb into the positive possession area.
This bodes well for a top four of OEL-Stone Elliott- Murphy. However, Dave Tippett does not, as seen by the fact that Elliott will be a healthy scratch tonight and Samuelsson will play, and that he will likely give more ice time to the Dahlbeck/Michalek pairing.
Another good thing to note is the play of Anthony Duclair. He has 8 ES points to go along with a 54.67 possession rating and everyone he plays with sees their Corsi skyrocket. In the rare occasions when he and Domi get on the ice together (about 40 mins so far) they have a 56% rating.
Anyways, I like watching the Habs so it should good game, even if the Coyotes are likely to lose.
Thanks for reading
Stats from waronice.com and stats.hockeyanalysis.com