SB Nation - Ilya Bryzgalov

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

3 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

3 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. Wild - Game Preview #30

OdinMercer — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:00:15 -0000

Hehehe. Clutterbuck. Teehee. (Saying that never gets old...)

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Yeah yeah. I'm getting this thing done! And if you're lucky I'll even do a post game later tonight. (Nah, I'll do one. I've been slackin') Tonight your Phoenix Coyotes, owner of a season tying long, 4 game win streak face the equally hot Minnesota Wild who have won their last 5 games. While Minnesota certainly had a lackluster beginning to the year, they've found something to get them through lately. So it's streak vs. streak tonight at Jobing.com Arena!

FIVE FOR WINNING

HIT! HIT! HIT! HIT!
Sporting last year's hits leader in Cal Clutterbuck (teehee) the Wild like to play a hard hitting style and when they get the lead there the rest of their game seems to follow. The Coyotes need to be prepared to answer the Wild's physical play with hard hits of their own. Daniel Winnik was laying guys out against the Senators and other players like Scottie Upshall and Mikkel Boedker were showing some surprising checks as well.

Play for, you know, 40 minutes at least...
In the post game presser, Coach Dave Tippett even said that the Coyotes weren't putting in a whole lot of effort after they got the first couple of goals. More times than not the effort that they gave on Saturday won't be capable of winning them the game. If it wasn't for the outstanding play in goal and some lucky breaks the Coyotes could have lost that game rather easily. As Tippett said, we'll take the two points, but we can play better and we have to play better.

Give Bryz Some Room, Then Don't Hang Him Out to Dry
The Coyotes got the early lead on Saturday giving goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov some room to breathe and not have to hold the entirety of the team on his shoulders, at least for a little while. Except then the team just decided to go into prevent style play and Ilya was getting a lot more pressure than a shot here and there. When the Coyotes get the lead they need to keep playing as though they don't have it because when they back off the gas bad things quickly happen.

Get Out of the Corners
Lately the Coyotes have been spending way too much time playing around in the corners. Both on the defensive end where they haven't been winning the puck battles and clearing, as well as on the offensive side where they just keep giving the puck to the new guy in the corner and going around in circles. At some point you have to get the puck out of there and into some sort of playable area.

Is the Ice Really That Bad?
The puck seems to be going everywhere as of late at the Job. Is it really an ice issue at this point? I don't understand. I thought we put in a new system to fix the ice issues. Shouldn't the issues also improve now that the temperature outside has gone down? One would think so, but it seems as though they've just gotten worse with the puck handling getting significantly worse in the second half of periods. Some solution needs to be found, and barring that the Coyotes just need to adjust to it and turn it to their advantage.

Key Players

Mikkel Boedker

#89 / Left Wing / Phoenix Coyotes

Height: 5-11

Weight: 195

Born: Dec 16, 1989

Mikkel Boedker is fighting for a more permanent role on this Phoenix Coyotes team and needs to show the coaching staff some irrefutable evidence of why they should give him more playing time. He's been getting time with top players like Shane Doan and Robert Lang. He's been throwing a good hit here and there, but he needs to create some scoring or draw penalties so that the staff has to leave him on the ice. He's come really close a couple of times on some nifty stick moves near the net but he needs to seal the deal on one of them soon.

Andrew Brunette

#15 / Left Wing / Minnesota Wild

Height: 6-1

Weight: 210

Born: Aug 24, 1973

Last time out Andrew Brunette rang up a couple of points on us with a goal and an assist. He's really been the standout player for the Wild this year with 10 goals and 16 assists. In order to win tonight we'll need to find a way to contain him and keep him from creating opportunities.

The Owie List

Phoenix Coyotes Injuries

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Peter Mueller	other-excused	12/07/2009

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

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

Minnesota Wild Injuries

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Brent Burns	concussion	11/19/2009
Pierre-Marc Bouchard	concussion	10/04/2009
Petr Sykora	concussion	11/09/2009

Coyotes at Ducks: Game Preview #27

zyllyx — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:04:30 -0000

More photos » by Jason Redmond - AP

Phoenix Coyotes center Martin Hanzal of the Czech Republic (11) shoots wide as Anaheim Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller of Switzerland defends in the third period of a NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)

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The Phoenix Coyotes bring an end to a grueling three-week stretch of games with only seven off days on Sunday with a divisional matchup with the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Sunday's game will be the third game already between the bitter rivals in the young season, each team with a victory apiece in the previous two tilts.

What Happened Last Game?

Really? You don't remember? It was an arena full of awesome! The Coyotes chased Marty Turco out of his net in a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars at Jobing.com Arena. Lauri Korpikoski was the first star of the night after tallying his first two goals of the season, and linemates Scottie Upshall and Matthew Lombardi each had three assists to help the team to a convincing victory.

It was only the second time that the Coyotes have scored as prolifically, and the first margin of victory of three or more goals in 14 consecutive games. The young Mutts did everything on the Five For Winning Game Preview checklist except for one - keeping the penalties balanced - which means that when the Coyotes listen to their very wise and perceptive bloggers, success follows naturally.

Which means that I'd probably better make this

FIVE FOR WINNING

extra special for the game against Anaheim.

Play With An Edge
It's no secret. These teams hate each other. Lots of teams hate the Ducks because the Ducks play a hard-nosed, gritty, in-your-face style of play, but the Coyotes and Ducks seem to reserve their worst inclinations and loudest chirping for each other. It makes for some thrilling sideshows to go along with the hockey; it also makes for more than a few cheap shots like this "Elbow Heard Round The World" from James Wisniewski on Shane Doan. The proper response to such play, of course, is illustrated by Captain Coyote himself, to wit:

Now, as satisfying as that is to watch, a lot of the shenanigans that happen between these two clubs happen out of sight of the referees even with Chris Pronger douching it up in Philadelphia (I'm looking at you, Corey Perry). So the Coyotes will have to play with their heads up and be ready to weather some tough hockey.

Feel The Bryz
Let's not beat around the bush. There is nobody more motivated on the Coyotes' squad to beat this Ducks team than Ilya Bryzgalov, he of the hot dog fetish and unnaturally high falsetto. He was aiming for a league-leading fourth shutout against Dallas before a couple of quick third-period goals dashed his hopes. But, barring any last-minute change of policy or injury, the Mutts are going to roll with their number one goalie and his fourth-best-in-the-league 2.12 GAA again on Sunday. Extra motivation is always welcome, and any time Bryzgalov faces his former squad the motivation is there in spades.

Play Competent Hockey for Sixty Minutes
This may seem strange to those readers who are new to the Coyotes, but long-time fans will know exactly what I'm saying here. I mentioned this in the last game preview (so I'm a bit redundant - give me a break, I'm just a fill-in for The Big Guy). The Coyotes are playing good hockey for the first time in what seems like forever this season, and they're doing much better at giving a consistent effort through the whole game instead of for only a period or two. Let's not beat around the bush - for most of the past decade, the Coyotes have been lottery candidates and for good reason. My wife attends games very infrequently - partially because she hated the way the Coyotes kept losing so embarrassingly. She was at the Dallas game last night and said (this is verbatim): "I didn't think these guys would ever learn how to play hockey... but I guess I was wrong." So, Coyotes, keep it up!

Play Through The Pain
There's no question - the Coyotes are starting to feel the wear-and-tear of the 82-game NHL season. Factor in the "Olympic Squeeze" during November where they've played a whopping ten games in just over two weeks, and you've got a recipe for a lot of agony. Fortunately, there are a lot of young guys on the team roster to provide raw young health. But after Ed Jovanovski, Vernon Fiddler, and Peter Mueller all left the Dallas game early with injuries, Sunday's game might end up being one of survival of the fittest. There's still no word as of this writing whether any or all of those three players will be back in the lineup against Anaheim, but it's a sure bet that they're not the only ones feeling the weight of such a demanding schedule. Grit your teeth, boys - you'll have a four-day layoff to heal when this one's done.

Build The Streak
The Coyotes once again avoided losing three in a row with their win over Dallas on Friday. Astoundingly enough, the Coyotes haven't lost three in a row all season. That's the good news. The bad news is that they haven't built a win streak all month after a strong October. Sunday's game would be a great start for a winning streak. It is, after all, the holiday season - why not give your fans a gift of a few consecutive victories?

Key Players

Corey Perry

#10 / Right Wing / Anaheim Ducks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 209

Born: May 16, 1985

Why? Corey Perry is one of those players that fans love to hate - he has a reputation for dirty play and cheap shots, and he rubs a lot of people the wrong way - but you just can't argue with his statistics. Perry already has 30 points this season (tied for 5th in the league) and is one of the hottest players around. This is a guy the Coyotes need to contain if they can - if they can't, it will be a long night for the Mutts.

Matthew Lombardi

#15 / Center / Phoenix Coyotes

Height: 6-0

Weight: 198

Born: Mar 18, 1982

Why? Lombardi is one of the Coyotes' hottest players right now. He scored three assists against Dallas and has three assists against Anaheim in the two games between the clubs so far this season. Lombardi's speed and playmaking abilities will be crucial in generating offense against a Ducks team that is gaining momentum.

The Owie List

Phoenix Coyotes Injuries

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Vernon Fiddler	undisclosed	11/28/2009
Ed Jovanovski	other-excused	11/28/2009
Peter Mueller	other-excused	11/28/2009

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

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

Did You Know?

The Coyotes are seventh in the Western Conference, tied with 29 points with Nashville and Dallas. The Mutts are tied for sixth in the league in wins (14) after 26 games, are fourth in goals against per game, 12th in both PP and PK, and an incredible 7th in faceoff percentage.

Final Thought

OdinMercer has been gone since Wednesday, and while I have had a terrific time being the fill-in blogger here at Five For Howling, I'll be happy to let him have the keys back to the car. Don't worry, Big Guy, it may read empty on the gas gauge but there are still a few fumes left!

Gameday Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning @ Dallas Stars (7:30pm CST)

Brad G — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:30:12 -0000

Next Game

Tampa Bay Lightning (10-6-7, 9th in East)
@ Dallas Stars (11-7-7, 7th in West)

Saturday, Nov 28, 2009, 7:30 PM CST
American Airlines Center

Local Radio: Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket

TV: FSN SW+
Radio: KTCK 1310 The Ticket

Opponent's Blog: Raw Charge

Complete Coverage >

The Stars enter tonight's game against the Lightning licking their proverbial wounds handed to them by the Phoenix Coyotes last night. Phoenix played a patient game, defending well and counter punching when the opportunities presented themselves. It was classic Dave Tippett and it worked perfectly against a disorganized Dallas Stars team that could not capitalize on early power play chances and continuously turned the puck over.

The Lightning, meanwhile, won a big game at home last night defeating the New York Rangers decisively, 5-1. The Stars and Lightning played only once last season. Dallas had a third period lead but surrendered three goals late and Tampa took it 4-2. Mike Smith was in goal for the win, but has not played at American Airlines Center since being traded for Brad Richards in 2008. It's uncertain at this point if Smith or Niitymaki will suit up tonight. The Stars meanwhile have some goaltending questions of their own, but for different reasons. Marty Turco was pulled last night after surrendering 4 goals in two periods.

Both teams played last night, but with very different results. The Lightning enter the game brimming with confidence after what they feel was their best 60 minutes of hockey so far this season. The Stars will need a strong start to build some confidence of their own.

UPDATE: Mike Smith will be getting the start tonight, his first in Dallas since being traded in 2008. Still no word on who will be in net for Dallas, as it seems that there are technical difficulties preventing any updates from the AAC.

After the jump: quotes from last night's game and an injury report...

The Stars:

Very brief quotage from last night:

Crawford:

"They capitalized on the chances they got," Stars coach Mark Crawford said. "Our impatience really showed. They got a couple of opportunities because we turned the puck over because of our impatience."

Morrow:

That ended the night for Turco, who had allowed the four goals on 19 shots before he was pulled for the first time this season.

"We all feel like we let him down a little bit but he got the yank," Morrow said.

Robidas:

Michalek capped the scoring 1:52 into the third on a blast from the left point over the extended right skate of Stars backup goalie Alex Auld.

"They were just a better team tonight," Dallas defenseman Stephane Robidas said. "Everybody was on a different progran tonight and it wasn't good enough."

I guess no one was feeling particularly loquacious after that one.

Meanwhile, Dave Tippett's club was riding pretty high after taking yet another game from Dallas:

Korpikoski said it felt "unbelievable" to break out of his slump.

"You lose so much confidence when you're not scoring," he said. "It's a different game when you get the first one, and everything slows down for you, and you start to make plays with confidence again. It's a good feeling."

Matthew Lombardi and Scottie Upshall, linemates of Korpikoski, had three assists apiece.

In two losses on a Canadian road trip this week, the Coyotes scored only once.

"The whole team breaks through to score five goals," coach Dave Tippett said. "It's nice compared to where we've been the last few games. It was good. Korpy's a guy who plays the game fast, been snake-bit a little.

By the way, attendance for last night's game in Glendale.... 10,691. On Thanksgiving weekend.

Mike Heika tells the tale of Bryzgalov vs Dallas:

GLENDALE, Ariz. – If you're looking for a list of Stars killers, it would be tough to get much better than Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov.

The Coyotes' netminder was solid again in a 5-2 win Friday. He is 2-0-0 against Dallas this season and 6-1-1 in the past two seasons. He has two shutouts in that span.

And while Marty Turco is usually up to the task of taking Bryzgalov to a low-scoring duel, that wasn't the case this time. The Coyotes, who ranked 28th in the NHL in scoring and had one goal total in two previous losses, became an offensive juggernaut to the delight of the handful of fans at Jobing.com Arena.

Bryzgalov's record against the Stars aside, I thought his team did a great job in front of him last night once again. The insulated him well from any dangerous shots. The difference in quality between the Coyotes' scoring chances and the Stars' scoring chances was astronomical. Marty Turco cannot be faulted for the loss last night.

The Lightning:

Let our SB Nation friends Raw Charge get you ready from a Tampa perspective:

Coming off their most consistent and most dominant game of the season, Friday night's 5-1 victory against the New York Rangers, the Lightning have gone to Texas to face off against the Dallas Stars tonight in a cross-conference shootout.

Like the Lightning, the Stars were in action last night... But instead of being victors, they were the victims instead; being drubbed 5-2 by the Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale, Arizona. So the good news goign into tonights game is both teams have had travel to get to tonight's game. The bad news is one team will be playing to redeem themselves and that makes them extra dangerous.

There's no word yet just who starts between the pipes for the Lightning tonight. Do you start the hot hand in Mike Smith, who played well last night? Or do you start the hotter hand in Antero Niittymaki, who happens to lead the league in save percentage (.932 )? That will be settled in the next few hours as head coach Rick Tocchet puts together his lineup.

Another question is if defenseman Mattias Ohlund will return tonight or perhaps Monday versus the Colorado Avalanche back in Tampa? Ohlund has missed the last six games with an ankle injury, and while Tocchet has said that Ohlund is close to returning, it remains to be seen how close. The Bolts don't need to push it, as they have enough able-bodied defensemen to cover for Ohlund as he heals, but it would nice to get the team's defensive leader back onto the ice.

Expect lots of droning on about Vinny Lecavalier and Brad Richards history on either broadcast tonight.

Injuries:

From NHL.com...

Injury report -- Tampa Bay is without three defenseman: Mattias Ohlund has been battling a foot/ankle injury, Paul Ranger has been away from the team for personal reasons and Matt Smaby (finger) was assigned to Norfolk of the AHL for a conditioning assignment. … Dallas forward Brian Sutherby is on injured reserve due to a groin injury.

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. Flyers - Game Preview # 23

OdinMercer — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:17:55 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

21 days ago: Phoenix Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, left, of Russia, reacts after St. Louis Blues' T.J. Oshie, right, scored during the third period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009, in St. Louis. The Blues won 3-2 in overtime. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

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After a tough overtime loss in St. Louis against the Blues, the Phoenix Coyotes return home briefly to take on the Philadelphia Flyers tonight. Supposedly this is some sort of big deal as it seems Coyote fans seem to have adopted the Flyers as their B team for some reason. I don't really get it., but hey whatever you like I guess. I still look forward to the "Boos" raining down upon Chris Pronger. There's some other stuff about trading guys and playing against old teams that I don't really care that much about too...

Five for WInning

Don't Let the OTL Get You Down: For the most part the Coyotes did a great job of posessing the puck and doing things right all game long. Chris Mason was on fire making a ton of quality saves. Ilya Bryzgalov got screened on the shot in OT and there wes some blown coverage, but overall we played well and got the point. It's the first OTL for the COyotes all year so we'll see how they react to it.

Doan Needs to Wake up (Still): He hasn't been playing badly, but he just hasn't been able to find the back of the net. While we can't rely on his production, having a goal producing Shane Doan not only gets us his goals, but has the ability to up the confidence of the team in general.

Obligatory Injury Report: Zbynek Michalek Still out, Ed Jovanovski looks to still be out, Kurt Sauer still out, but Matthew Lombardi should be back tonight. Sheesh I hope we get our Defense back soon...

PK Better Be Ready: As a matter of fact, how about we just don't take penalties tonight? The Flyers sport the best Power Play in the league at a 26.6% conversion rate. Or PK hasn't been bad at 81.2%, but it's been slipping a little as of late as we had been much better. THe PK unit though looked good the last couple of games making the other team's power play units look like they were at even strength.

And Those Guys That Got Traded...: Yeah, everyone still remembers that Scottie Upshall got traded to the Coyotes for Daniel Carcillo and a Second Round pick. Half of the things I've seen around the net are about "Danny Coming Back!" and what not. I can honestly say I don't really care. I'm not angry, It's just not important to me. Sure, he was a fan favorite when he was here, but we traded him for a player that has done really well for us this year (Tied for the team lead in goals) and for more picks. I liked the trade when it happened and still do. I get the player loyalty, but I guess I just moved on. Probably see many a Carcillo Jersey around the Arena tonight too, hopefully in the old Coyote colors and not the black and orange.

GO YOTES!

Coyotes @ Blues - Preview #22 - 3rd Time Already?!

OdinMercer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:18 -0000

More photos » by Paul Battaglia - AP

Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle (3) has hops.

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The Phoenix Coyotes stroll into St. Louis to take on the Blues tonight after downing the Wild 3-2 last night. This is already the third time the two teams have met in this young season. The Coyotes have won both previous games, one 3-2 in OT and the other 2-0 in St. Louis. Maybe this game will actually have a little bit of flow to it unlike the other games. THough if it means Ilya Brygalov gets another SO, i'll take no flow :D

Five for Winning:

Damn Right Bryz Starts: The Coyotes site said they expected him to, but someone better guaran-damn-tee me that Ilya Bryzgalov is going to start for the second night in a row after how Jason LaBarbera played last time. That and Bryz seems to have the Blues number along with making saved he didn't even see coming last night. Be the man Bryzzie!

Upshall be Clutch: Scottie Upshall is leading the team in goals with 7 after last night's tally. No offense to the Carcillo loving people, but right now we're winning that trade. Sorry to say, well not really because Uppy has been awesome but I think you get what I mean.

Defensive Scoring wins games: I don't have all the statistics in front of me right now, but it seems like whenever we get a little bit of input from the defense we end up winning the game. Jim Vandermeer got a goal and Keith Yandle got an assist last night and we won the game. How about we continue that model for the foreseeable future?

Their house is our house: The Blues have been terrible at home this year going 3-8 at home. No idea what the problem is there, but I have zero problem exploiting their issues. 3-9! 3-9!

Score first!: We don't seem to be doing that a whole lot, but when we do, we win 82% of the time. THat's 6th in the league in that awkward statistic. If we let the other team score first? 30% of those become wins. So... Let's score first eh?

GO YOTES!

Game Recap -- Phoenix Coyotes at Minnesota Wild

mbennett — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:11:34 -0000

More photos » by Paul Battaglia - AP

22 days ago: Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle (3) jumps into the arms of teammate Scottie Upshall, after Upshall scored the go-ahead goal against the Minnesota Wild during the third period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009, in St. Paul, Minn. Shane Doan, back right, and Robert Lang (20) also celebrate. Phoenix won 3-2. (AP Photo/Paul Battaglia)

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Minnesota 2 - Phoenix 3

Greetings all, Nathan had more important things to do last night, (congrats on nine years my friend) so, I figured I would pop on in and give a game recap from the perspective of section 210, row 1. Never been in the upper deck before, so this was a good experience. You sure can see the plays (or lack thereof) developing from up yonder. Alrighty...let’s get to it...

Another ~~Fraud~~ Sellout at the X last night, packed to the rafters...if you are counting the nearly 2000 empty seats. The 'Yotes came in not faring well over the past Millenium versus the Wild, and we were told that on the scoreboard before the game. I felt this was a classic "Dick and Bert" moment, and, well, if you watched the game, you know the kiss of death occured.

The Wild came out Slloooooooowwww, and seemed to lack energy the entire game. The only consistent energy came from the Brodziak/Earl/Clutterbuck. The slow pace of the wild was matched by an equally lethargic attack from Phoenix. I saw more excitement at the prospect scrimmage this past summer. With under a minute to play, the Wild lost Owen Nolan for ~~tapping a player's ass with the blade of his stick~~ slashing. When the 'Yotes came out on the PP in the second, they scored on a laser from the right side of Backstrom off the stick of Radim Vrbata. 1-0 Yotes. That was all the scoring in the 2^nd.

The Wild bounced back with a nice hard working goal from the Koivu/Brunette/Miettinen line. Bruno found a free puck and an open net, and buried it. 1-1 tie. Sadly, as often happens, the Wild found themselves down 2-1 after a horribly played puck at the blue line led to a 2-1 the other way, and James Vandermeer faked the crossing pass and pushed the puck behind Backstrom. Come to think of it, I think it wasn’t so much a misplayed puck, but Kim Johnsson falling down.

With roughly five minutes to play, the Wild once again tried this "scoring" thing, much to the celebration of the fans. It was another classic Andrew Brunette setup from behind the net. Puck came hard around the back wall, Bruno pushed it along, Koivu tapped it back to Bruno who slides it in one motion out to Mittens who buries the puck from maybe 6 feet away. 2-2 tie.

As much rejoicing was occurring, the Wild forgot that the puck being dropped symbolizes that play is resuming, and within 20 seconds, Scottie Upshall takes a rebound off Backstrom and slides it underneath Nik for the 3-2 lead, and eventual game winner. It was a soft, soft goal, and it really took the wind out of the collective sails of the players and the fans.

Neither team was especially good this evening, but the Wild was worse. Please note that word choice…as opposed to the classic cliché of "they were the better team." Sadly, in this case…the wording, as it reads, is more accurate.

Lets take a look at the 5 questions posed by Nathan "Swine-Flu Survivor" Eide…

1. Any chance Danny Irmen can continue the first career goal trend? Well, he did get to wave at his family in the crowd, and I did see him out there…so he was physically present, but sadly…no goal for you!

2. Can Brent Burns continue improving upon his plus/minus? Burns was a -1, so by definition, this is a step back.

3. Will the Coyotes know how to play in front of actual people? They did look a bit puzzled by the breathing life forms on the other side of the glass…but they won, so, I guess they know how.

4. Ilya Bryzgalov is in net. He tends to play very poorly against the Wild (1-7, 3.42 lifetime). Will this trend continue? He played pretty well. Controlled rebounds, didn’t do anything stupid. A very serviceable performance, and got his win at the X.

5. 8 shots against Washington, 0 against Carolina. Which Martin Havlat will show up? Havlat had 4 shots, one was a decent opportunity. The Martin Havlat who likes to carry the puck into the zone and curl also showed up! I think it is time to look at getting him his number back…he clearly feels like "10 less of a man."

Coyotes at Wild - Game Preview #21

OdinMercer — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:31:42 -0000

More photos » by Matt York - AP

24 days ago: Phoenix Coyotes right wing Shane Doan (19) looks to pass as Tampa Bay Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier (4) defends during the third period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)

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After a listless performance against the Lightning, the Coyotes take a short 2 game roadtrip starting tonight against the Minnesota Wild. The Wild are not what one would call a "good" team at the moment. They've gone 7-11-2 so far for 16 points. That puts them just above the Ducks in the Western Conference standings. They have, however been pretty good at home going 5-2 at XCEL. Mikko Koivu leads the Wild in points at 5-13-18 and Andrew Brunette leads in goals with 7.The Coyotes need to take this team seriously though as they have not been playing well as of late. Against the Lightning there was zero energy and though the Wild haven't been all that great this year, if we look past them we'll have another L against us.

Five for Winning:

No More LaBarbera!: Some of those goals that went in on Monday were really soft. while I know Bryz lets those in now and then, I expect Ilya Bryzgalov to get both tonight's game, and unless he gets shelled, the game against St Louis as well. The season started out with myself and others liking Jason LaBarbera, but his recent performance has many calling for Al Montoya to get another shot in the big league.

Make the Wild Stay Minus: A lot of people don't like the +/- statistic, but it can help show patterns in teams and players. For example, Of the 25 skaters that have played games for the Wild this season only 5 are not in the -. 2 of the five left are at an even 0. That goes to show that at least at even strength, they haven't been all that strong.

Power Play woes: Just a few games ago, the Coyotes were one of the better teams in the league when it came to PP%. Now we've slid from a high of 6th in the league to a middling 14th. Minnesota isn't the team we want to face to bust out of that slump as even with a so-so record they still have an 82% PK percentage.

Weathering the Injury Storm: Now we've added Matthew Lombardi to the ever growing list of the Coyotes injured reserve joining Zbynek Michalek, Kurt Sauer and the Day-to-Day Ed Jovanovski. Hopefully we're just getting the injuries out of the way early and everyone will be completely healthy for the rest of the year once they come back because this is starting to get brutal. At least we're not lacking Forward prospects to call up unlike on the blueline.

Look out for the Second Period: Minnesota likes to score and get scored against this year in the second period. 52% of the goals against and 46% of their goals for come in the second period. Those are some pretty lopsided stats in terms of goal distribution. This bodes well for the Coyotes at least as they're usually waking up after a slow first period.

GO YOTES!