The Season seemed to be hanging by a thread when Mike Smith injured his leg on Monday night. The goalie who had played the most games in the NHL this season, the team's far and away most valuable player and the only reason the Coyotes even have a chance at the playoffs, went down with an injury that - based on the audio captured when he was hurt - appeared to be season ending. And not just for Smith, but for the whole team.
Greiss came in that game cold and unused for at least a dozen games and predictably he couldn't hold the lead. Things looked bad. Then again, things looked bad when the Coyotes lost back-to-back games against the starts before the Olympic break. They looked even worse when they came out flat after the break. Hell, things even looked bad when they only acquired Martin Erat at the trade deadline.
Good thing the Coyotes have made a habit of quickly correcting things this year when they look bad. In the first game without Smith, against the Penguins no less, Greiss, and the team, played amazing. The Penguins were stifled and Griess held them off the score sheet for the last half of the game.
Last night, Griess was again filling in so well for Smith that you couldn't even tell there was a different goalie in net than usual, providing you didn't look too close. Greiss was every bit as good as Smith has been, at one point robbing Jaromir Jagr point blank. (And as an aside, how cool is it to see Jagr not just playing, but playing really well, in 2014?)
The Coyotes won the game, in a shootout, 3-2. Despite blowing a 2-0 lead (again) Phoenix was able to recover and win in the shootout. The Coyotes are always a good bet in the shootout because despite not being able to elevate his game to the star level he seems capable of, Michael Boedker is amazing in them. The goal he scored last night - a sweet backhand deke that he put into the top shelf - was gorgeous. Even better than Boedker in shootouts,is Vbrata. His goals aren't as nice, maybe, but he scores nearly every time he touches the puck in a shootout. Basically, the Devils had no chance, once overtime was done.
With the win, the Coyotes ended up taking 5 out a possible 6 points on the Eastern roadtrip. Better still, is their month of March. During March, the Coyotes are 9-4-1. Outside of the Capitals, the only teams the Coyotes lost to this month (in regulation) were Boston and St.Louis.
By dominating the schedule this month, the Coyotes have caused an 8 point swing in the standings and are now 5 points up on the Stars, who did not play last night. In fact, the Coyotes are only 1 point behind Minnesota for seventh, as the Wild lost yet again. The two teams meet up on Saturday in Phoenix.
Lineup Notes:
Last night Korpikoski returned after missing two games. Connor Murphy was called up and inserted into the lineup at the expense of Derick Morris, who has not been effective lately. Also, Mike Ribiero was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. It makes sense to scratch Ribiero because he has not been skating on the top line for most of the year and has no business on a checking line. With Smith out, Tippet can't afford the liability that is Ribiero in any non-power-play situation.
Finally, I think it's worth while to point out just how good the Coyotes defense was last night, considering they dressed Michael Stone, Chris Summers and Connor Murphy, all three of which are basically rookies. When you consider they still have Gormely to add to this lineup - and that OEL (23) and Yandle (27) are both still so young, and you factor in this late season run to the playoffs, it's hard not to get excited about this team and their potential. Personally, I think the young Coyotes defense is the most undersold and undertalked story in the NHL this year.
I can't wait for the next game.
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