SB Nation - Taylor Pyatt

Dan Boyle Possibly Injured; Updates To Follow

FTF Staff — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:34:32 -0000

[UPDATE, SUNDAY] WTC Reports that Dan Boyle's injury appears to be nothing serious. The Sharks official pagesays the same. H/T to Megs and sharks in oc for the tip.

[UPDATE, SATURDAY] Per Dave Pollak at WTC, McLellan says it's too early to tell how serious Dan Boyle's injury is. For those of you waiting up for news, looks like you'll have to wait for tomorrow.

At the end of the San Jose Sharks 2-1 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday, Taylor Pyatt checked Dan Boyle into the boards with roughly 5 seconds remaining in the game. Following the play Boyle was slow to get up, taking nearly a minute to get off the ice, and had to be helped off by two teammates.

Updates and video will follow.

Coyotes at Kings - Game #31 Preview - Remember When We Owned the Kings?

OdinMercer — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:45:09 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

7 days ago: Phoenix Coyotes' Scottie Upshall (8) scores against Minnesota Wild's Niklas Backstrom (32), of Finland, in the second period during an NHL hockey game Monday, Dec. 7, 2009, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

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Oh how I pine for the days of yesteryear. When the Kings couldn't buy a goal. When the purple defense was laughably porous. When no matter who they put in goal it wasn't enough to keep us from beating them. Those days have passed it seems, but not all is lost. While the Kings may be making a charge towards the top of the division, the Coyotes too have come out of the basement and are clawing their way up the standings. If no longer destroying the Kings every single time we face them is the price to be paid for overall success then I'll take it! Though I'm not quite ready to concede this game just yet...

FIVE FOR WINNING

PK vs. PP
The Coyotes have managed to deny their opponents on the last 18 power play chances. An 0 for 18 chances looks pretty great for one of the work penalty killing teams of last year. However. Against the Kings in three games this year the Coyotes have allowed them to score on 6 of the 12 chances they've had. Something is going to give tonight. Either the Coyotes will have tightened up and figured out the PK better or the Kings are going to go to town yet again as they are lights out against pretty much everyone on the power play, especially at home where they're 5th in home rink PP% at 24.5%

Can Taylor Pyatt's Scoring Streak Continue?
After a less than spectacular start Taylor Pyatt has been on fire the past three games getting a goal in each one. He's come up with a patented "Hold off the defender with one arm and tip the puck 5 hole move" Where he pretty much does exactly that. Though last game he got an incredible one timer from a Shane Doan pass that he beautifully weaved through two Wild defenders

Bryzgalov for Vezina?
Okay, maybe it's a little early for that, (Though not by much) but I don't think Coyote fans could have expected or wanted much more out of Ilya Bryzgalov so far this season. He leads the league in shutouts with 4. He's among the best in both save percentage and Goals Against Average. The defense has been there, but he's gone from a goalie that was suspect in the eyes on many fans, to the guy that's carried this team into contention. He'll need to be good again tonight as the Kings have been one of the few teams that have been able to score on the Russian. They've managed to score 7 goals in Bryz's 2 starts.

Get the Jump On Them Early
Sure it's always nice to get the early lead, but it will be critical to do so tonight. The Kings are coming over a hard fought 5-4 overtime victory against the Sharks last night and will (hopefully) be at least a little tired. The bigger reason though is that the Kings have shutdown teams late in games from making comebacks in the 3rd. If the Kings take a lead into the final frame they've won in all 13 instances.

Defrost the Power Play
While our Penalty Kill has been solid. Our Power Play has been ice cold. THough we've managed to put together our 5 game winning streak. We've done so without a single power play goal in the last 18 chances. Every goal we've scored in the past 5 has been at even strength. THat says a lot for how our team is working the 5 on 5, but we have to start converting some of those shorthanded chances if we want to climb up the standings any more than we already have.

Key Players

Shane Doan

#19 / Right Wing / Phoenix Coyotes

Height: 6-1

Weight: 224

Born: Oct 10, 1976

Shane Doan has been racking up the assists lately but the team could use some more goals from him. Los Angeles seems to be the team for him to do it against as he's scored 3 goals in the 3 games against the Kings so far in the season series.

Wayne Simmonds

#17 / Right Wing / Los Angeles Kings

Height: 6-2

Weight: 183

Born: Aug 26, 1988

Wayne SImmonds has come a long way since last season when he was getting checked all over the place by Shane Doan. Now he's developing into quite the player for the Kings. He's riding a 6 game point streak in which he's been 4-4-8 and on the season overall he's 9-10-19 and an astounding +13. He's one of the players to keep an eye on with Ryan Smyth still out of the lineup.

The Owie List

Phoenix Coyotes Injuries

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Kurt Sauer	other-excused	10/07/2009

Los Angeles Kings Injuries

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Andrei Loktionov	shoulder	11/26/2009
Ryan Smyth	other-excused	11/18/2009

Coyotes Celebrate Cinco de Coyo(te), Bryzgalov Gets Shutout in 2-0 Win.

OdinMercer — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:15:48 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

7 days ago: Phoenix Coyotes' Ilya Bryzgalov (30), of Russia, celebrates his shutout win with teammate Keith Yandle (3) at the end of the third period after an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild Monday, Dec. 7, 2009, in Glendale, Ariz. The Coyotes defeated the Wild 2-0. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

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Woooooo! 5 wins in a row baby! Have a Margarita tonight because it's Cinco de Coyo! The fans around the arena were certainly high-fiving and celebrating and while there's still a long way to go, a shutout win over the Wild certainly made everyone feel good and elevated the Coyotes to 37 points on the season. It also sets up a matchup with the Kings on Thursday that will be for the fifth place spot in the West and 2nd in the division either way. But enough with standings and all that poppycock. To the gameness!

First of all I was really annoyed that Mikkel Boedker was a scratch tonight. I'm glad Peter Mueller got to come back and played fairly well but Mikkel Boedker has played his pants off lately and not gotten any reward for it. I get that Tippett doesn't want to use younger layers as that just doesn't fint into his scheme, but to call him up and use the minutes he's played pretty well and get no reward is disappointing at best. Then the guy I highlighted in the pregame Cal Clutterbuck, was a scratch as well as I guess he got some sort of illness that's been going around. His absence didn't really decrease the amount of hitting and all around scrapping as the teams would get into hitting matches and fights especially later in the game.

For the most part the game itself was an outstanding goalie battle. Both Ilya Bryzgalov and Niklas Backstrom were outstanding, but the Phoenix offense was just good enough to get a missed rebound past him for the first goal by Scottie Upshall. Then Shane Doan made a fantastic move to get the puck to Taylor Pyatt who scored his third goal in as many games. On the offensive end that was the entirety of the production offensively.

In the third period though the game started to get away from the officials in a big way. Mid way through the period Ed Jovanovski made a big hit on one of the Wild players (I can't recall who it was) but there was no penalty and the Minnesota players wanted to go after him. The hitting picked up in a big way after that with Winnik, Upshall and Jovo all getting hits on people within a short time. The emotions boiled over at the end of the game with a huge scrum in the corner. Keith Yandle threw a few punches in the middle of the crowd, but Vernon Fiddler grabbed a guy out of the pile and simply beat the hell out of him. Owen Nolan and Keith Yandle almost went after each other too, but the officials were able to clear the players off the ice so that the team and the crowd could celebrate what really mattered in Ilya Bryzgalov's shutout. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some fines or suspensions handed out because of the after the horn activities.

Coyotes vs. Senators - Game Preview #29

OdinMercer — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:06:31 -0000

Spartacat? Really? This looks like some sort of high lion. Random drug test!

View full size photo »

The Coyotes try to extend their winning streak to 4 games tonight as the Ottawa Senators visit Jobing.com Arena for a late 8:00 start for some reason. We're not on Hockey Night in Canada so I don't understand the lateness if we're aren't showing up the Sens on National TV.

Unfortunately some of our divisional rivals have already gotten some pity points today, so we need to make up for it and kick some Senatass!

FIVE FOR WINNING

Take Advantage of the Sens Goaltending
With Pascal LeClaire on the shelf the Senators have been leaning on backup Brian Elliot to keep the season going. On the current road trip it really hasn't gone that well for them as they've gone 0-2-1 and got shelled after coming out to the West Coast. They lost 5-2 to the Sharks followed by a 6-3 loss to the Kings on Thursday. Prior to that he hadn't fared all that badly, but now has a 3.03 GAA and a .895 save percentage. With the Coyotes stingy defense 3 goals could be plenty.

Jovanovski Back in the Lineup
Looks like Ed Jovanoski will be back in the line up for the first time since November 27th when he came back for a couple of games after being out for most of the month. The Coyotes miss his defense, but more importantly his offense which he seems to have re-discovered this year. Jovo has 13 points in 18 games so far this year with 5 goals. Before his injury he was starting to get some power play time with him parked near the net that was really disrupting opposing PK units. Hopefully there's not much rust to knock off and he gets back to for soon.

Which Brother Will Be Victorious?
Milan Michalek and his brother Zbynek Michalek will meet for the first time since Milan was traded to Ottawa in the Dany Heatley trade. They always seem to play well against each other, but we need Zbynek to be the better Michalek tonight, especially on defense as his brother has four goals over the last three games, even though those have all been losses.

Get Hitting!
With an already thin defensive core, defenseman Alex Piccard was taken out of the game against the kings after a hit by Dustin Brown. Pair that with the fact that the big hitter for Ottawa, Chris Neal, is out until likely the middle of the month and we'll see a team that can be pushed around a little in terms of hitting them consistently when they touch the puck. The team isn't riddled with injuries, just at key positions and to important guys.

Be Consistent on the Power Play
During the last game fans watch the Coyotes constantly passed back and forth and cycled on both 5-on-4 and 5-on-3 chances without a lot of results. They would mishandle the puck, step on the puck, kick the puck, etc. The team would tic tac it at the points, but couldn't get the puck anywhere near the slot because of the bobbles. The whole point of the passing back and forth is to pull a guy out of position and get behind him. The Coyotes just seem to be passing for the sake of passing. Make something happen guys!

Key Players

Daniel Winnik

#34 / Center / Phoenix Coyotes

Height: 6-2

Weight: 210

Born: Mar 06, 1985

Daniel Winnik may not be getting goals or points or be the driving force on the offense, but lately he's been everywhere on the ice defensively. When I watch games on TV he gets noticed by both our home announce team and by the opposition as a player that along with his linemates Vernon Fiddler and Taylor Pyatt are just pains for the opposition to play against. He's been handing out hits and making all the little plays that help prevent goals and get wins.

Brian Elliott

#30 / Goalie / Ottawa Senators

Height: 6-2

Weight: 201

Born: Apr 09, 1985

Like I said earlier, he's filling in for the injured Pascal LeClaire and the Sensators will live or die based on his performance in goal. Sure the defense gets some of the credit for the goals against over the past few games, but if we let Elliot get comfortable in the crease he'll be the one that caries the team. If he's soft he'll be the goat that the loss gets hung on.

The Owie List

Phoenix Coyotes Injuries

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Ed Jovanovski	other-excused	12/05/2009
Peter Mueller	other-excused	12/05/2009

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Kurt Sauer	other-excused	10/07/2009

Ottawa Senators Injuries

Doubtful

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Alexandre Picard	other-excused	12/05/2009

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Shean Donovan	knee	11/20/2009
Pascal Leclaire	jaw	11/24/2009

Gameday Preview: Dallas Stars @ Phoenix Coyotes (8:05p EST)

Brandon Worley — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:38:24 -0000

Next Game

Dallas Stars (11-6-7, 7th in West)
@ Phoenix Coyotes (13-11-1, 9th in West)

Friday, Nov 27, 2009, 8:05 PM CST
Jobing.com Arena

TV: FSSW+
Radio: KTCK 1310 The Ticket

Opponent's Blog: Five For Howling

Complete Coverage >

Hopefully everyone had a safe and fun holiday yesterday, but now it's back to business. The Dallas Stars will attempt to fight off their tryptophan coma tonight as they take on the Phoenix Coyotes tonight in Glendale, Arizona.

The Stars are coming off of a four-game homestand, their first of the season, and went 2-1-1 in those games. Dallas was finally able to get into a pseudo-rhythm on home ice after an up and down start to the season. While you'd certainly hope for a better finish than the shootout loss to the Blues, at least you can be thankful the Stars did enough to pull a point out of the game. Every single game is incredibly important this early in the season, as just eight points separate 2nd in the West and 11th. The Stars gained a point on Wednesday, but have dropped two spots to 7th.

More importantly, the Stars have a chance to gain some ground in the race for the division title. While it seemed early on that San Jose will just run away with the Pacific, a win tonight will put the Stars five points back with a game in hand; it's still extremely early to be focusing on a division win but with such a surprisingly competitive division every point becomes important.

But that's big picture. Right now the Stars just need to focus on each game, one at a time. We've seen the team start to form some consistency over the past week and despite the loss two nights ago, you still had to be encouraged by the energy the Stars showed throughout (and yes, that is an important factor).

After the jump, a look at the Coyotes since we last saw them and some updates on the Dallas Stars; it's a Super Preview!!

The Dallas Stars:

After being recalled for just one game in case Karlis Skrastins couldn't play against the Blues, defenseman Maxime Fortunus was sent back to the Texas Stars. If the Stars have any more injury issues on defense, I'm hoping that Fortunus gets another chance to make his NHL debut. He is an extremely intelligent and solid defenseman and is a key part of the reason that Texas has done so well this season. He's an AHL veteran and was great in last season's playoffs and I think that if given a shot he could make a good impression in the NHL.

Fabian Brunnstrom made his debut Wednesday with Texas in his first game since his shoulder injury, going pointless and minus-1 in the 2-1 Stars shootout victory over Milwaukee (Warren Peters and Ivan Vishnevskiy scored in the shootout for the win). With him down in Austin and Brian Sutherby still on injured reserve (although he could come off today, I believe), expect to see the same lines as Wednesday night:

Neal - Richards - Eriksson
Ott - Ribeiro - Lehtinen
Morrow - Modano - Benn
Petersen - Wandell - Barch

We'll find out later today if Nicklas Grossman can play. If not, we'll get another great dose of Jeff Woywitka.

After the loss to the Blues, Marc Crawford mentioned that the lack of execution and defensive breakdowns was attributed to fatigue after playing four games in six nights. Hopefully they got some rest over the short holiday because the travel to Phoenix tonight, go back home to take on Tampa Bay tomorrow night and then travel once more to Detroit on Monday. Expect this for the rest of the season; fatigue is going to be an issue for every team and it's an excuse I'm tired of hearing.

No word as of yet as to who the starter will be tonight, although I would go with a rested Alex Auld against the Coyotes and play Turco tomorrow night against Tampa Bay. Marc Crawford is wily, however, and there's telling what their 'plan' may be for this weekend. His last hunch worked out however when he started Auld against the Red Wings, so I'll defer to him.

Here are some news and notes on the Stars from the last few days:

Andrew's Dallas Stars Page has a look at some special teams stats:

Statistically speaking, you can look at the Dallas Stars' special teams in more than one way. In the standard statistical view the power play is middle of the pack and the penalty kill is the in the bottom of third of the league. In another way of looking at the numbers, the power play is top ten and the penalty kill is middle of the pack.

Take the power play, for example. Through Wednesday's games it ranked 17th in the league at 17.4 percent in the usual way of looking at power play performance stats. Look at it a different way - power play goals per game - and it ranked seventh in the league at 0.92 per game.

The penalty kill ranked 23rd in the league at 77.9 percent through Wednesday, but if you look at power play goals allowed per game it was at 16th in the league at 0.79 per game.

The Dallas Morning News has a good story on Brad Richards, who is 4th in the NHL in overall scoring.

There are several reasons for the surge. Richards has found chemistry with young wingers James Neal and Loui Eriksson; he has taken over as the quarterback of the power play (a role Sergei Zubov held for better than a decade); and he simply is better than he has been in recent seasons.

Richards said he was disappointed with last season's injury-plagued campaign, and the Stars' inability to make the playoffs. He went to his summer home in Tampa, Fla. and worked out relentlessly, concentrating on leg work and skating, but also on finding the hunger in his game again.

"It obviously helped physically, but I think it helped mentally, too," he said.

Andrew's also has the audio from Brendan Morrow's appearance on BaD radio from Wednesday. What I found interesting was what he had to say about his fight with Tim Gleason.

The Phoenix Coyotes:

Since beating the Stars at home on November 14, the Coyotes have gone 2-3-1 and slid further down in the standings, including two straight losses on the road against Calgary and Edmonton. Five For Howling has an excellent preview up for the game, so I'm going to defer to them for the Coyotes point of view:

Attack the Goalie
Whether we get a big helping of Thanksgiving Turco or more of the same Auld Lang Syne, we need to make sure that the Stars' netminder earns his pay. Marty Turco in particular has proven to be less than bulletproof at Jobing.com Arena - he likes to play Superman, but the Coyotes in general and Shane Doan in particular seem to know where to find Kryptonite. The key against Turco is to have enough patience with the puck until he overcommits. Against Auld, who plays a less "flamboyant" style, the Coyotes simply have to dodge the "show up your old team" ethic that nipped them against Calgary. Tall Bald Auld is less aggressive in the crease than Turco, but he's also more porous - and as long as the refs and video review guys are paying attention the Coyotes can slip a few past him.

Clog the Slot and Crease
By now, we've all realized that there aren't any spectacularly-gifted offensive talents on the Coyotes' squad. And if we hadn't on Wednesday, TSN did a great job of reminding us about it. Over. And over. And over again. So since we apparently lack the creativity and precision it takes to snipe goals in from afar on a consistent basis, it would behoove the Desert Dogs to increase the close-in pressure between the circles and in front of the net. The Coyotes signed Taylor Pyatt for his big body and ability to create chances at the crease - his slow skating speed has looked out of place among the other faster forwards in the lineup when the team has dumped-and-chased. Parking guys like Pyatt, Paul Bissonnette, and Martin Hanzal in front of the goalie might smack of hunting for garbage goals... but let's be honest, right now any goal is a good goal for the offensively-challenged Coyotes.

There is much, much more so be sure to check it out.

Key Injuries:

Dallas: D Nicklas Grossman (groin) is questionable. C Brian Sutherby (groin) and RW Fabian Brunnstrom (shoulder) are out.

Phoenix: D Kurt Sauer (upper body) is out.

So How Those Other Guys Doing?

Yankee Canuck — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:10:54 -0000

These. Long. Breaks. Between. Hockey. Games. SUCK.

So much so I caught myself watching other games and seeing some old faces in new places. Curious what's up with some former 'Nuckers out there? Take a spin with me then.

Mattias Ohlund - Ah, 'old Matty. Maybe his departure is why Edler sucks so far. Baby bear missing papa bear perhaps? Six points in 17 games (only one PP point) doesn't leave much to be desired for Ohlund though. He did blow up Kessel, that was good for a laugh. His new baby bear - Victor Hedman - has five points in 20 games. Ohlund has been nursing a lower body injury the past few games which perhaps means more ice time for...

Lukas Krajicek - Poor Luke. Once projected to be very much what Blastoff is for the Canucks now, he was deemed expendable for SOB last year and, though he had some injury problems, finished up as the second best scoring defenseman for Tampa. I don't know where he is on the depth chart now, but he's only played 12 games this year, has a single point and somehow has 19 PIMs. If it makes him feel any better, SOB has only played 17 games, has no points and 32 PIMs. Everyone collectively sigh in 3...2...1...

Taylor Pyatt - Old pretty eyes took his act down south to Phoenix, upsetting female fans...everywhere? However, he's only getting a shade over 13 minutes a game (close to a minute and a half off his average TOI last year) and - in 18 games - only has three points. He has been getting a decent amount of time on the PK so he's still got that working for him. OK fine, here puck bunnies, don't say we're not looking out for you and your squeeeeee's. And as long as we're in the desert let's go find...

Jason LaBarbera - Our metalhead back-up from last season is 1-3 behind a rather stellar Ilya Bryzgalov. Many of us didn't want to see Barbie go, but consider Raycroft has more wins, a better GAA (2.19 to 2.66) and a better S% (.916 to .907). So Vancouver did pretty well on this end so far, but we remain confident that Barbie has better musical sensibilities and, at nearly 70 lbs heavier than Raycroft, could probably use him as a tooth pick if he was so inclined.

Mats Sundin - He's doing this. Over and over and over again. Yup, feel bad about yourself. It's cool.

Curtis Sanford - The Sandman basically went from Manitoba to Hamilton of the AHL and is now backstopping the Bulldogs. Just for comparison, Sanford has a better GAA (1.78) and a better S% (.934) than Cory Schneider, though the red had has more wins. And he looks strange without the fan helmet. Or, you know, in general.

Jason Jaffray - When Vancouver went through their hilarious string of injuries last month, it would have been nice to call up Jaffray. The former Moose standout has only played one game for the Flames so far and had no points. But down in Abbotsford he's doing just fine with nine goals which is good enough for fifth best in the AHL (note: both Shirokov and former Canuck Jeff Cowan also have nine goals).

Ossi Vaananen - Ossssssssi! The vowel master wasn't given a second thought by Gillis, so instead he followed his (money) nose to the KHL where he's playing with HC Dynamo Minsk where he has two points and is -7 in 26 games. Yikes. But nevertheless, he'll also be the #1 waiver wire pick up in our hearts (no offense Kris Beech).

Rob Davison - Remember him? Me neither. But his 23 game campaign with Vancouver has been followed up by starting with AHL's Lowell Devils where he has eight points in 16 games. Not bad at all, but I suspect he's a long shot to make the Devil's (NHL) roster and may be destined for Europe at the end of the year.

...and, sure, while we're at it let's kick ourselves and check out the WCE...

Brendan Morrison - As Sean noted, B-mo is like a slightly more expensive Wellwood who, in contrast, has a spine, drive and points in the double digits. Fifth on the Caps in points in fact. Pudge is tied for 18th on Vancouver. Fuck.

But, all in all, couldn't happen to a better guy. Go B-mo go.

Todd Bertuzzi - Let's see: Bert has the lowest shooting percentage on the Wings, leads Red Wings forwards in giveaways (18) and has nine points in 22 games. To quote one commentator from the A2Y crowd: "I can’t possibly imagine that there isn’t a single other healthy player out there that couldn’t fill or exceed Bertuzzsi’s current role." Wow.

Markus Naslund - He's at Sean's house, baking fluffy, fresh muffins daily before Sean goes to work. And Sean could NOT be happier!

Coyotes vs. Ducks - Game Preview #13 - QUACK! QUACK! BOO!

OdinMercer — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:42:42 -0000

More photos » by Tom Gannam - AP

about 1 month ago: Phoenix Coyotes' Daniel Winnik (34) celebrates with teammates on the bench after scoring a goal in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the St. Louis Blues, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009 in St. Louis.(AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

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The once again hot Coyotes make their way back to Jobbing.com arena tonight to take on the Anaheim Ducks. The Coyotes went 2-1 on the eastern roadtrip with the goaltending once again being the difference maker. Jason LaBarbera was strong against the Blue Jackets and Ilya Bryzgalov shutout the Blues. Maybe LaBarbera as competition for Bryz is actually working out. All of the guys that nobody was really expecting a whole lot from contributed on Thursady. Daniel Winnik got a goal, Taylor Pyatt added the second and Vern Fiddler was again strong on faceoffs and with his passing. Coach Dave Tippett said we'd need scoring by committee to be successful and contributions from that third/fourth line are huge.

Anaheim is coming of a rare win at home in which the lit up the Canucks 7-2. The Ducks have not had a very good start to the season going 4-6-1 for nine points so far. A big reason has been a lack of defensive effort as after the departure of Chris Pronger, the blueline just hasn't had the same punch. That's led to more scoring chances and the goalies haven't helped. J.S. Giguere has been bumped to backup, but has lost all three of his starts (one in OT) of his starts and sports an overall GAA of 3.64 and Jonas Hiller has been iffy as well going 4-4-0 with a 3.06. Hopefully the offensive production was an aberration for the Ducks as well.

No TV coverage locally tonight, so get to the arena or listen on 910AM

Five for Winning

Watch out for the 4th Line: In the Ducks win against the Canucks, it wasn't just Getzlaf and Perry doing the scorring, George Parros got a goal and so Did Mike Brown. Linemate Ryan Cater got an assist on both of the goals as well. We know Hanzal's line will be out there against the big guys, but we also need to make sure that the 4th line scoring for them was a one night only kind of thing.

Watch Out For Ours Too: As previously mentioned, the Winnik-Fiddler-Pyatt line wasmaking things happen on Thursday. Getting those goals for both Winnik and Pyatt looked like real confidence boosters. Especially for WInnik who was snake bitten last year and couldn't find the net to save his life. Hopefully that makes him more willing to shoot and take chances. For Pyatt it should reinforce the idea that collapsing on the next is a good thing. He was on his way to park there as Fiddler found him for that pretty goal.

What's up Mueller?: The slump continues for forward Peter Mueller who has yet to find the back of the net, or really any kind of offensive rhythm. According to the Preview on the Coyotes site "Coyotes forward Peter Mueller still is seeking his first goal of the season. Mueller played a season-low 10:21 on Thursday." That's not a good sign for Peter as it's become clear that you need to earn your ice time on this squad. He needs to pick it up or he's going to be watching a game or two from the press box.

Ilya! Ilya! Ilya!: For Ilya Bryzgalov, leading the league in Shutouts with 3 in this young season is huge. As many Coyotes fans know, if he gets down on himself it's hard to get the confidence back up for the next game quickly and what was a bad performance can snowball into a long streak. But it seems as though he's responding to both good team effort in front of him and being backed up by a competent goalie as well. He's putting in All-Star worthy performances so far which is what we'll need to find the post season this year.

New Jovo?: He's a had a few cone worthy performances this year, but overall he's much improved (though still overpaid) from last year. He's tied for the team lead in both goals (4) and points (12). He's actually laid a few good hits on some people too. It's nice to see him actually leading the blueline by example this year instead of just wearing the A.

GO YOTES!

Game Recap #11 - Coyotes Get Sweet Sweet Revenge in 4-1 Win

OdinMercer — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:22:56 -0000

More photos » by Paul Vernon - AP

about 1 month ago: Phoenix Coyotes' Robert Lang, left, of the Czech Republic, celebrates his goal with teammate Petr Prucha, also of The Czech Republic, in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the St. Louis Blues in Columbus, Ohio, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. The Coyotes won 4-1. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)

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The Coyotes avenged their home opener white out loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight as they rolled into Nationwide Arena and worked over the Jackets 4-1. The Coyotes were flat for the first period as the Jackets scored first on a power play goal from Derick Brassard late in the period as it looked like the penalty train that the Coyotes have been on as of late was going to continue. However when the teams came back out for the second period, the Coyotes looked more like the team that "surprised" everyone a few games before locking the Blue Jackets down on defense and taking over the game on offense. Over the next two periods 3 players would get their first goals of the season in Martin Hanzal, Jim Vandermeer and Zbynek Michalek, while Robert Lang got his second goal of the season.

Here's some other quick notes as we reset to take on the Blues tomorrow:

Jason Labarbera was lights out in goal. After Ilya Bryzgalov was rocked against the Rangers he shined. We may get the go tomorrow as the hot goalie, or it could be Bryz, no word as of yet.
The Power Play looked solid, I liked the work out there.
Keith Yandle was solid tonight with 3 assists very nice effort out of him.
Getting in front of the net actually worked! Go figure. That Hanzal goal was a crash the net effort that worked, and Vandermeer's goal was a direct result of Taylor Pyatt parking in front.

That's all I've got for tonight. Ad your observations at will. I'll figure out what happened with the preview and gamethread from tonight so we don't have a repeat tomorrow.

GO YOTES

Coyotes Face Off Against Tkachuk and the Blues Tonight - Game Preview #6

OdinMercer — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:55:43 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Chiu - AP

Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!

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In the Coyotes second home game of this young season, we drop the puck against the St. Louis Blues. THe Coyotes had lost 2 in a row before knocking off San Jose in a defensive battle on Monday. St. Louis hasn't been able to get back in the win column since beating the Red Wings twice over in Sweden. They dropped game to both Atlanta and then Los Angeles on Saturday. Which means once again we get a pretty well rested team to play against.

Also I hate Parent Teacher Conferences so sorry for the lateness...

Five for Winning

Bryz Dogs: Bryz has been stellar so far this year. 2 shutouts, 3 wins a .960 Sv% and a 0.98 GAA? What more could you ask for? The question is if he can keep this up all season long. Maybe Fuhr was that bad of a fit for him. Maybe Burke in at goalie coach has made a difference. Whatever it is, It's working.

D-Fence: The D has been excellent in every game, even in our two losses to Columbus and Buffalo. We've only allowed 7 goals against in 5 games which is pretty outstanding. THey've kept us competitive every game, even when we haven't been able to generate the offense to get the W.

Still Need Goals: In Buffalo we lost by 1. Against Columbus we lost by 2, one in the empty net. And in San Jose we went into the shootout 0-0. While we haven't looked bad losing, we need to get some goals to get this thing done. Shots haven't been a problem as we're getting them on goal, we just have to start getting them IN.

Pyatt should be ready: Mikkel Boedker was sent down to San Antonio yesterday, likely to make room for Taylor Pyatt to come off the IR again. We'll finally get to see what he can do after being picked up in the offseason.

Need to Get Going at Home: It's only our second home game of the year, but we need to get a win at home. The Coyotes seem to be good either away, or at home each season, but never both at the same time. If this is a team that wants to make the playoffs, we're going to have to be good at both this year.

GO YOTES!

Coyotes Season Opener Preview - Game #1 Vs. Los Angeles Kings

OdinMercer — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:30:26 -0000

More photos » by Rick Scuteri - AP

Ilya is ready to stop you. After he gets some hot dogs.

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Gametime - 7:30 , broadcasting on FSNAZ in HD and on XTRA 910 AM

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Not Christmas, COYOTEMAS! Sure we've had a couple days of regular season hockey involving other teams, but now it's go time for our guys. After and offseason not lacking in off the ice drama and a preseason coaching change it's time to get down to the actual playing.

The Coyotes have been interesting to watch this preseason and Ilya Bryzgalov looked good in his last start against the San Jose Sharks. Shutting them out as the Coyotes won 2-0. Bryzgalov will be in net again tonight in an arena the Coyotes are 5-2-0 in over the last 7 meetings.

On the Forward side of things Robert Lang is ready to go after being signed last week. If he can bring any of the scorring touch he had before his injury last year then it's a solid pick up for the Coyotes. Lang will be on a line with Shane Doan and Mikkel Boedker according to the Coyotes website.

No idea on the rest of the lines, though we know Taylor Pyatt is out for another couple of week.

On the Kings front they'll be going with a top line of Anze Kopitar, Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams. Our favorite Doan check target Wayne Simmonds will be playing tonight too... We can only hope for something like this...

FIVE FOR WINNING

Get Doan Started Early - Shane Doan has only had 1 point so far in the preseason. It's easily explained away since you're giving ice time to players that are trying to earn spots, but still concerning as with the exception of last year Doan is notorious for his slow starts. We can't rely on him to carry the team, but at the same time, he's crucial to our success.

Get the D Flowing - With the overhauled defense we should hopefully cut down on the flubs that coninually cost us games last year. Adrian Aucoin and Jim Vandermeer aren't flashy, but they do get the job done defensively. I want to see them stifle the Kings tonight.

Keep Up the Momentum in Goal - Bryz had a strong showing in the game against the Sharks, but now we're playing for real. Going back to the previous point, hopefully the improved D can give him some more confidence that he was lacking last year.

Protect the Blue - One thing I saw in that Sharks game was that the Coyotes were finally protecting their own zone. Rarely were people just walking in like they usually did, the other team actually had to play the dump and chase instead of just us. Keep that up and the Goals Against will be down significantly from last year.

Get the Young Guys Started Right - Peter Mueller especially needs to get going this season in a hurry. After an outstanding rookie year, he hit the sophomore jinx hard last year. He doesn't need to score a couple of goals tonight (Though that would be great) he just needs to gain some confidence and look like a threat in the first few games. Hanzal and Boedker would be nice to see putting up points too. Boedker is getting first line minutes with Doan tonight so we'll see if he can contribute. Hanzal just need to start shooting more frequently. He has a wicked cannon of a shot, but chooses to pass frequently.

GO YOTES!