The Coyotes rallied back from a disastrous 3-0 first period to win 5-4 in the shootout. It was a pretty ugly game and while I love the somewhat surprising scoring that this team has brought, they’ve been allowing a ton of goals. The absence of Martin Hanzal was felt the two games he was suspended, despite both being victories. Vermette was forced to take pretty much every face-off during the game because Ribeiro getting overmatched was an issue without Hanzal there. They miss the big guys physicality and net presence.
Greiss got the start, his first appearance since Smith was chased from the net against the Kings and first start since his win against the Flyers on October 11. Despite the score and the obvious poor start in general from the Coyotes, he wasn’t that bad. He shut played very well in the second and third and gave them a chance to come back. Goals one and three…ya he’ll want those back, but in the end he was fine and still managed to get things done in the shootout.
Speaking of firsts there were a lot of them. David Rundblad entered the lineup for the first time in…forever. He played a quiet game and one of his better of the season. He was making simple plays and taking the body. He’s always been known to try to do too much and be too fancy which got him caught defensively, he was pretty solid. Sometimes a benching can help and personally I thought he played better than David Schlemko had been recently.
Talking about Greiss wanting one back, oh baby will Hutton want Szwarz first NHL goal back. That was a pretty embarrassing way to get your first career goal; small wrist shot after entering the zone completely fooled Hutton.
Another interesting first is that Brandon Gormley was called up from the Portland Pirates and while a scratch could potentially see his first NHL game at some point. Gormley has embraced the top defenseman role for the Pirates who are currently missing most of their top players (Miele, Gormley, Szwarz). He was playing 28 minutes a night and he was the major part of the strong Pirates PK. He had 5 assists in 7 games. I had felt for sure that they would let him play the whole season in Portland and have him ready next season, but rewarding fine play with promotion should never be frowned upon. Or if I want to bring out the inner rumour monger in me, TRADE TIME! We got Klesla, Schlemko, you can have them! Don’t want them? Try our Rundblad! Morris rhymes with Norris! Every depth defenseman must go!
Mikkel Boedker seems to be a bit in the doghouse, was really underused this game. Something I don't agree with considering the major struggles Korpikoski has had the second he crosses the opponents blue line.
As the title alludes to the Coyotes are getting a massive amount of offensive production from their blue line, in fact they are the highest scoring total defense in the NHL right now.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson : 1 assist Keith Yandle : 2 assists Derek Morris : 1 goal Zbynek Michalek : 1 assist
Just in this game alone.
Yandle and OEL have been the primary force behind the major offensive explosion from the backend. Both are tied for first in defensive scoring with 11 points, OEL taking the top due to his 3 goals while Morris more surprisingly sits in 7th with 9 including 4 goals…it’s a contract year for old Mr. Morris and I think he wants to get paid. Keith Yandle himself is riding a 5 game point streak in which he has an astounding 9 points.
I'm really not sure what kind of drugs the people voting for the Three Stars are on, so here are mine.
Coyotes Three Stars
1. Antoine Vermette 2. Keith Yandle 3. Shane Doan (Best game of the season for him)
Another two points and the Coyotes continue to claw their way into the playoff discussion in the early going. I know that because the Coyotes are loathed primarily by my fellow Canadians simply for existing are continuously put down and pegged to be last for that selfsame reason, but come on guys…they’re pretty good right now.
Thanks for reading.