The Phoenix Coyotes played maybe their best and most complete game of their season last night against the LA Kings. They rode a flying start and a strong effort by the fourth line of Bissonnette, Halpern and Klinkhammer to a 3-0 shutout.
The game started with the Coyotes setting a tone of physicality that had the Kings on their heels for the entire first period. The shots were close in total at the end of the period, but as analyst Tyson Nash astutely pointed out, none of the Kings shots were even close to being good scoring chances.
From the drop of the puck to the sound of the first buzzer, the Coyotes flew around the ice being the physical team they need to be if they want to be successful with their current roster. They dominated in hits, scoring chances and carried the play for the entire twenty minutes. The only positive for the Kings in the first was a sweet old-school hip check by Drew Doughty on Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
It wasn’t that much of a positive for them though, as OEL responded nicely to the big hit by scoring the game’s first goal. He would later add another, but it was the only goal they needed on this night, as backup Thomas Greiss stopped 30 shots on his way to his second shutout of the season and the third overall for the Coyotes – all of them coming this month.
The second period had a great start, not necessarily for the Coyotes, but for anyone watching: the Kings, apparently embarrassed by their weak start to the game, came out determined to match the Coyotes hit for hit. The opening three minutes featured several hard checks which culminated in Jordan Nolan’s perhaps overly aggressive hit on Kyle Chipchura. Chipchura appeared to be without the puck when Nolan absolutely nailed him. The Coyote’s announcers suggested he may have been actually knocked unconscious, but since he later returned to the game this is doubtful. Bissonnette, however, wasted no time in jumping Nolan and while it wasn’t much of a fight, it did earn him a ten-minute misconduct, ostensibly since a fight requires two participants.
If the Kings had some life after the first intermission, the Nolan cheap-shot extinguished it. Immediately following the hit, with the Coyotes on the Power Play, Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored his second goal of the game and pretty much put this one to bed. On the goal Coyote’s captain Shane Doan notched his 500th career assist.
Recent scoring machine Antoine Vermette added the third goal and Coyotes cruised the rest of the way to victory. The Kings have lost now six of seven and now look like a team the Coyotes could conceivably catch in the standings.
Overall, this game was the perfect start to a crucial five game home-stand that will no doubt determine if the Coyotes are a playoff team or not this year. It may have been the team’s most complete game of the season– more importantly, the physical game played last night has to be maintained. If the Coyotes play like this consistently, they will regain their reputation as a defensive powerhouse who is really tough to play against. Every line was physical and the fourth line brought more to the table than they have in weeks. Bissonnette especially was singled out after the game for his strong play by coach Dave Tippett.
One thing about this game that is worth pointing out I think is that it was a really good example of how shots can be a misleading stat. Halfway through the game the shots were tied at 17 and yet the Kings looked to have not even showed up, it was such a dominate performance to that point by the Coyotes. The Kings were better in the third, but Greiss maybe had to make one hard save in the first half of the game. This is why I don’t put as much stock in shot totals and statistics based on them – most of the time when I watch hockey games I end up surprised by one thing or another when I look at the stats after the game. I am not saying stats aren’t valuable tools to help analyze the game, but they can’t beat sitting down for a couple hours and actually watching the game. The Coyotes destroyed the Kings last night and yet, if you checked the stats you might think it was a close game in which Greiss just outplayed Quick despite that not even being close to the truth. Yes, the Kings hit a couple posts in the third, but even if those went in, you could argue that Quick was the only reason the Coyotes didn’t get six or eight.
Overall, I am going to declare this the best game the Coyotes played this season. With their physical play and the way they kept skating through the entire game, it seemed like a playoff game. This is encouraging because if the Coyotes get can get into the playoffs and play like they did Tuesday against the Kings, you get the feeling they could surprise a lot of people and pull off an upset or two.
Notes:
-Tippett suggested after the game that he is going to go with Greiss again on Thursday against the Sabres.
- Good to give a Smith a little rest I think as he has played the most minutes of any goalie so far this year.
-Vermette has six goals and two assists in his last five games.
-Ekman-Larsson who last week played games of 35 and 32 minutes, played a “measly… 26:38 last night.
-The Aforementioned Sabres are the league’s worst team, with a four point lead over the Oilers on last place.
-The win moves the Coyotes to within three points of the final playoff spot with games in hand on both Vancouver and Minnesota.
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Breaking News:
According to the team's official Twitter account, the Phoenix Coyotes will, as of next year, become the Arizona Coyotes. Apparently there will be no changes to the uniforms except for a shoulder patch that will be sewn onto the current jerseys.
I for one applaud this move as a concession to common sense, even if it might take some getting used to. A lot of people might not know this, but the Phoenix Coyotes do not actually play in the city of Phoenix. They play in a suburb of Phoenix called Glendale. Since Glendale is arguable too small and anonymous a place to get their name on the Franchise, they decided to go with Arizona, since that is at least a better indication of where they play.
This is, admittedly, not a huge deal, but it does at least make more sense than naming the team after a city they do not play in. Another team with a similar quirk is the Ottawa Senators who also do not play in Ottawa but rather a suburb called Kanata. Don't look for them to change to the Ontario Senators anytime soon however, since they aren't the only team in their province, unlike the Coyotes who remain now, and most likely forever, the only NHL team in Arizona.
According to the teams Twitter feed they "hope the name change will encourage fans from all over Arizona to embrace and support our team." I don't think that anyone is that easily fooled that if they didn't care about a team that was "from" Phoenix, that they will suddenly be interested in a team - who still plays in the same arena in the same town - who is suddenly "from" Arizona. I mean, I have underestimated the stupidity and naivety of people before, but I think anyone who lives in a part of Arizona that is not Phoenix or Glendale is perfectly aware that Phoenix is a city in Arizona. Even so, its still a good idea.
Arizona will join Carolina, Minnesota, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey and the New York Islanders as teams named after states and not cities.
Thanks for Reading. @Coyotes1234