The Jets lost, the Predators lost, and the Coyotes were winning 2-0 with only ten minutes left in the third. Things were looking good: The Coyotes would win three in a row, and it would be all the more impressive after such an inauspicious return from the Olympic break.
But you can never be on too much of a role or get too comfortable when you're .500 team without an identity, without a first line and without even a solid shut-down line.
Yes, the Coyotes have just enough to tease you into thinking they might be a halfway decent team, only to expletive deleted every time you start to believe they might be turning a corner.
If we are to entertain the bright side of things here, we can at least take comfort in the fact that the Coyotes held Ovechkin off the score-sheet and put in a good effort for most of a game.
If you want to be pessimistic, you could complain that they couldn't put away a vulnerable team when they had them on the ropes, that they couldn't hold a lead or that, as usual, they couldn't muster that third goal when it was needed the most.
Honestly though, even if it is cathartic to bitch a bit, I still feel some positives for this team, even after last night. I know they are a .500 team no matter how you shake it out or view it - and thus, I know that what happened last night is bound to happen.
The fact remains, this is a team that fights hard and is competitive in nearly every game and which has strong goaltending and a defense that can be the foundation of a championship moving forward. The play of guys like OEL, Stone and Boedker bodes well for the future and watching these guys, you know that with just a little luck they probably can make the playoffs - though watching Dallas these last few weeks and seeing what Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn are capable of, makes one long for at least a halfway decent forward on the 'Yotes.
If you compare the Stars and Coyotes roster outside of their respective first lines, I believe it really illiterates the importance of having elite scoring forwards. These are two teams that are separated by three points and yet I don't think it's a stretch to say that the Coyotes, outside of goal where they are fairly even, are superior by a significant amount in every other aspect of the game: Defense, Penalty Kill and Lines 2 through 4 are all areas where the Coyotes have superior personal.
If the Coyotes had even one forward of the quality of Seguin or Benn, I think they would be a lock for the playoffs and possibly even better than just a 7/8 seed. Hopefully management recognizes this and makes an effort in the off-season to acquire a player - of any forward position - to play on the first line.
Next up the road trip continues with stops in Tampa, Florida, and Boston before returning home Saturday to face the Flames. If Phoenix is serious about making the playoffs, they need to win at least 3 of these games.
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The Coyotes have recalled forward Andy Miele from Portland.
I think this is great news. Andy Miele is a talented forward who has never really been given a chance in the NHL because of his size. He is only 5'9 170lbs but I have never understood why a team that can't score keeps one of it's better offensive options off the team due to size. It's frustrating because how many times have we seen small players flourish after being written off? You would think people wouldn't put so much stock in size any more, but they do. It's hard to outgrow convention.
Miele currently has 58 points in 56 points in the AHL and is 5th in league scoring. He should get a shot at some top line minutes and PP time, but If I know Tippet, he will play him on the fourth line with Bissonnette and Chipchura, and then send him back down when he fails to score! Hopefully I am wrong, because I believe if given a chance, that Mielle could surprise a lot of people.
He has 2 points, both assists, in five games earlier in the year.
Thanks for reading.
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