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Subjected on most nights to a team that is supposed to be hard working and grinding but that is just sloppy and full of odd and questionable personnel decisions, the fans of the Coyotes got a much deserved reprieve last night from the constant drudgery that comes with being a last place team.
And we've only been in the basement since Tuesday.
I don't like it though.
On Tuesday, the Coyotes lost to Dallas by blowing a 2 goal lead and then allowing a short handed goal one minute before overtime. It's one of the worst ways you can possibly lose (that I know about, anyways). Then on Thursday, the sinking feeling from the Dallas game carried over and the team looked bad, offering up a good effort, but sagging (possibly confirmation bias alert) in a way that made them look like a collection of teenage music nerds suffering their fourth straight rejection from a girl.
So last night, the team was either going to give up and take the path of least resistance or come out and show that there's still hope for the season. Now, I could be completely projecting my own feelings and former teen-angst onto the team, but I doubt I am very far off here.
The game was a joy to watch from start to finish, as are most games where you team wins 5-0. The star of this game was obviously Hanzal who had a natural ha-ttrick and scored 2 of his goals in 9 seconds.
While it's nice to see Hanzal score a trio, the fact is, it was pretty fluky. The first and third goals - good job on him to find the open ice and everything - but they were just wristers you'd expect Miller to stop. The middle goal was a high-stick that could have been called either way. Still, nice to see Hanzal break-out - it's the second hat-trick for a Coyote this year (Boedker had one earlier) and Hanzal's second career one (he scored 3 goals vs the Leafs in '08). The team deserved a little puck-luck after facing off against Lehtonen and Hillar earlier in the week. And of course Miller was his typical whiny (yet hilarious) self after the game, accusing the ref of not even watching the play -
"When I look over, he's not even looking." - Ryan Miller
Well, good thing you are an athlete Miller. When you looked over, the ref wasn't looking? When exactly did you look? During the goal? Because it's conceivable that if you were able to change your field of vision from Hanzal and the puck to the ref, that he too had time to move his head.
Oh man, athletes are occasionally hilarious. Let's not even mention the fact that there are 4 refs/linesman who then confer about what they saw. Or how doubtful it is that the ref wasn't watching the puck be shot on goal.
And that video replay? Not as conclusive as the goalie looking to see where the ref was watching in the aftermath of the goal.
Good times and thanks for a post-game interview that was almost as good as the game itself. And I mean it. Miller might have sounded ridiculous, but I like that he speaks his mind - far too often athletes are so boring in their interviews, so I like Miller, even if his grasp on logic seems tenuous at best.
So, with apologies to the Oilers, and thanks in part to Miller, the Coyotes are, temporarily, at least, out of the basement. They resume their climb to respectability tomorrow night against those same Oilers in a Sunday night match-up for the ages.
And wow, I almost went the whole column without mentioning Dubnyk's shut-out. It's hard to credit the goalie too much in a 5-0 win, but he was sharp when he needed to be, and it's an accomplishment every time you keep the Sedin's off the score-sheet for an entire game. Dubnyk has played well in limited ice-time so far this year. Of course it barely matters.
This is Dave Tippett's team, and you don't move up with good play. Hanzal? Hattrick? Doesn't matter, don't expect him to be the teams #1 centre , even though it would make way more sense to play your 6'6 potential star as much possible now that he's finally healthy, to see what you have in him, and to help his development. The team is, after-all, in last place and should be focused on development.
But they aren't. This is Tippett and Vermette and Doan and Smith's team. And they will lose with them at the expense of all else. So, good for Dubnyk, just don't expect to see him back in net for a couple weeks.
Great game though. Almost as good as this Lemonheads record I'm currently playing!
thanks for reading.