After losing three straight games coming off of the Olympic Break, the Coyotes, after defeating the Panthers 3-1 last night, have now won four out of their last five games.
While there seemed to be five teams (Wpg, Nash, Dal, Phx and Van) competing for the final Western Playoff spot coming off the break, it now appears to be a two team battle between the Stars - who won again last night - and the Coyotes.
With their recent hot streak, the Coyotes are now five points up on Winnipeg and Vancouver with a seven point lead on the Predators.
Much of the recent success of the Coyotes can be attributed to Mike Smith who has now allowed two or less goals in seven of his last ten games. Last night Smith was strong again, turning away 31 of 32 shots that the Panthers put on goal.
Radim Vrbata, a player who seemed done several weeks ago, has also been on fire lately. He has six points in his last four games and scored the shootout winner on Monday night. Perhaps it is the addition of Martin Erat, or perhaps it is just a coincidence, but he scored his 19th last night and added two assists. Vrbata was the best player on the ice for Phoenix and if he can provide some scoring on the second line for the rest of the way, the Coyotes stand a good chance to overtake the Stars, who do have a game in hand.
Martin Erat left the game with an injury in the first period. No word yet on how long he will be out for, or if he will even miss the next game.
The Coyotes play one of the NHL's best teams on Thursday - the Bruins - to close out their four game Eastern road trip. Even if the Coyotes fail to win against Boston, the worse they can do is 2-2 on a very tough road trip. A win will make it a massive success.
Full credit to the Coyotes for winning the last two games after the collapse in Washington on Saturday that saw them blow a two goal lead in the last ten minutes of the game, only to lose 3-2 in regulation.
It would have been easy to spiral downward from that game, and I think its a testament to the coaching, leadership and overall determination of this team that they went out and won the next two games.
GMS Blow an Opportunity
With word out of the NHL GM Meetings that the league's general managers will recommend that the NHL do nothing but switch ends prior to OT for a longer change in order to lessen the amount of games that go to a shootout, I think they have missed an opportunity to easily fix one of the game's only problems.
It seems unanimous that everyone involved in the game wants less shootouts. It is also irrefutable that the NHL has the sporting world's most insane and confusing way to track standings.
Try explaining to someone who doesn't regularly watch hockey why some games are worth two points and others are worth three. It is actually impossible to defend the system or answer the questions they ask about it, like "Why?".
The fact is, there are more games going to overtime because of incentives. Incentives dictate everything we do in life. Hockey is no different. There is a strong incentive to tighten up in a close game and go to overtime so that you can get at least a single point.
Once a game goes to overtime, it is likely to go to a shootout because five minutes is not a long time and goals are hard to score. Its just bound to end in a tie more often than not. Because of this, it is my opinion that the NHL shouldn't worry about what happens once overtime occurs, but rather should focus on preventing overtime.
There are two ways to do this that are equally obvious and would have the double benefit of making each game worth the same amount of points.
The first is to make each game worth two points. Simply eliminate the loser point. While doing this won't really give incentive to avoid overtime, it does take away the incentive of playing to get there. It will also make it easier for teams to overcome other teams in the standings. Currently, the three point games make it seem like more teams are alive in the playoff race than there really are. It is perception, and not fact. Take Nashville or Winnipeg for a current example. They are seven and eight points out of 8th respectively. It seems like they could go on a streak and catch up, but with teams between them and Dallas getting points even for losing, its nearly impossible. Moving away from the loser point would actually give teams a better chance to overcome large deficits, despite the perception of the opposite.
The second option is to make every game worth three points. I think this is the obvious answer because teams not only have no incentive to get to overtime, they now actually do have incentive to win in regulation because then they can get an extra point. Games will go to shootouts less often and teams will not have to play longer games and the standings will make more sense. The NHL made records impossible to compare when they decided to eliminate ties, so there really is no excuse to not implement this system.
I cannot think of one single rational reason why the NHL is talking about stupid ideas like 3 on 3, or ideas that will barely do anything, like changing ends for OT when the answer to their problems is so obvious and easy to implement.
Thanks for reading
Twitter:Coyotes1234