As we wake up and take our daily look at the NHL Standings, we see that our Coyotes sit a precarious one point up on the Dallas Stars, who have a game in hand. This is disappointing because for all the great play of late and the resiliency shown by the team in overcoming the Mike Smith injury, the playoffs remain anything but a sure bet.
Still, there is hope. While the Stars are hanging on just behind the Coyotes, the Wild remain only five points up for seventh. In this situation it is the 'Yotes with a game in hand, making the gap not quite as large as it seems.
The race resumes tonight when the Jets come to town. The same Jets who have beaten the Coyotes two times so far this year and who blew a 4-0 lead last night to the Ducks.
Winnipeg is an even more enigmatic team than Phoenix and hopefully the Coyotes can take advantage of a team that is playing it's first game after being essentially eliminated from the Playoffs. There is, however, always that chance that they are so embarrassed about last night's game that they come out and play their best game of the year.
What I am saying is that the Coyotes need to be sure they don't take the Jets lightly. Not that they would ever take any game lightly at this time of year; it's just that they can't just assume that because they blew a four goal lead the day before that they will be easy pickings.
The Coyotes continue to play without starter Mike Smith, as Thomas Greiss looks to get his fourth straight start. According to the teams Twitter feed there is good news regarding Smith, who it is expected will be out approximately one more week and apparently they are hopeful he will play before the end of the regular season.
Davids Schlemko and Moss are both game time decisions. I also wonder if Moss is healthy, if it will be Ribeiro who sits. Macmillan, Klinkhammer and Chipchura have been quite effective lately, and for whatever reason, Tippett seems to love Jeff Halpurn, so it is entirely possible that Ribeiro will be healthy scratched again.
Besides the Coyotes game, tonight also features the key match of Dallas vs Washington. Everything needs to go right for Phoenix tonight because tomorrow is a very tough back-to-back against the Kings.
Exciting time of year.
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