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Anaheim Ducks		Phoenix Coyotes
15-14-7		22-13-2
37 Points		46 points
13th in Western Conference		6th in the Western Conference

Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009, 7:00 PM MST
Jobing.com Arena

TV: Center Ice Only
Radio XTRA 910AM

The Opposition: Anaheim Calling or Battle of California

Phoenix Coyotes vs. Anaheim Ducks - Game #38 Preview - This Season's Gone Fast...

posted by OdinMercer about 1 hour ago

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More photos » by Christine Cotter - AP

5 days ago: Phoenix Coyotes left wing Lauri Korpikoski of Finland, right, battles Anaheim Ducks defenseman Sheldon Brookbank for the puck in the first period of a NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Christine Cotter)

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Wow does time fly. Somehow we're already halfway through the season, well, close to halfway. It's more odd for the NHL schedule makers to have already had us play our entire allotment of games against the Blue Jackets already and now get the Ducks for our 5th of this season's 6 meetings. Well I guess we'll be playing meaningful games against contenders down the stretch then.

Anaheim has taken a slide in the standings this year as they currently sit in 13th in the Western Conference, though just 5 points out of 8th. Despite this slide the Ducks have played well against the Coyotes this season getting 6 points in the four meetings (2-0-2). No word on which goalie we'll see tonight as it's typically Hiller, who plays well against us, but he also played last night in Colorado.

Five for Winning

Our New Number One Line?
No word on if Dave Tippett will run the line out there again, but he'd be silly not to. Shane Doan, Matthew Lombardi and Scottie Upshall combined for 10 points as a line on Monday and just oozed chemistry. We've been trying to find our offensive punch all year and while a guy would get hot here and there we didn't have a consistent threat. We may have just found it.

Killer Instinct
As the game against the Blue Jackets showed, we can finally put together a game where we get a lead and put our foot on the gas. Often this season, and in past ones the Coyotes would get an early lead and then coast for a period until they realized the opposition was coming back. On Monday they kept pushing the play and racking up goals. While our defense has been solid, good defense works even better when the puck is in the offensive zone and can get a break.

Who Will Actually Play?
With Vernon Fiddler out since this past Saturday's Ducks game with a lower body injury and now the possibility of Martin Hanzal not being in after getting cut open in a fight with Jared Boll we're getting a little short at center. While we do have Kevin Porter and Peter Mueller to plug in to the lines, Marty and Fiddler have been an important part of our success this year, especially on the Penalty Kill. It will be interesting to see what happens if neither of them are in tonight. If Mueller and Porter are both in, or if either of them are, this would be a good time to prove you belong here. Just sayin'.

Repeat the Disipline of Last Game
Saturday was the Penalty parade against the Ducks, Monday we cleaned up our act and didn't have nearly as many trips to the box. We'll need to duplicate that effort tonight to keep up with the Ducks. They come in with a 2nd ranked power play unit that's converting an astounding 23% of the time. For a team that gives up as many goals as the Ducks do, getting them back is important and the less we give them the opportunity to, the better off we'll be.

On Fire At Home
While I don't want to jinx anything, this stat is already out there so... The Coyotes have now won 7 straight at home. Pretty impressive. The crowds still aren't huge, but they are coming back and the fans that are there are more into the game than ever. Heckling goalies, cheering a ton, things are slowly getting better and these performances at home have been a big part of that.

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Next Game

 

Phoenix Coyotes		Columbus Blue Jackets
14-15-7		21-13-2
35 points		44 points
14th in Western Conference		7th in the Western Conference

Monday, Dec 21, 2009, 7:00 PM MST
Jobing.com Arena

TV: Center Ice Only
Radio 1510 KDUS

Opposition Site: The Cannon

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by Jay LaPrete - AP

7 days ago: Phoenix Coyotes' Robert Lang, left, of the Czech Republic, celebrates his game-winning goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets' with teammates Shane Doan, center, and Martin Hanzal, also of the Czech Republic, after the shooout of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio. The Coyotes defeated the Blue Jackets 2-1. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

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A little bit of a busy day here in Coyote land. We signed on Anders Erikkson. Yeah. Take that every other team! Wait, who's Anders Eriksson? All I know is he's played for half a dozen NHL teams and almost as many different leagues. Supposedly Dave King had him on a team is Russia and we've seen him a bit down in San Antonio. Beats me. I don't get the signing but I'll trust GM Don Maloney for now, hey, it's worked so far.

On to the quick 5 for tonight:

Five for Winning

Knock It Off With the Friggin' Penalties!
I mean really. You're just killing yourselves guys. 9 penalties last game. Killed your momentum at the beginning of the last Jackets' game the same way. It's hard to get the offense going or play consistant defense when you're spending half the game in the box. I'm sure the staff let them know how costly these are if they didn't already figure it out for themselves.

Doan Took it Up a Notch
While he had been finding it hard to find of the back of the net, he did against the Ducks on Saturday. He was one of the few bright spots for the team as he was everywhere trying to make things happen. Hopefully now that we've moved beyond his 1000th game he get really start finding his groove for the year. With a couple of exceptions his seasons do have him getting hot in the second half of seasons and well, at game 37 this is about the time.

The Bryz Softies are Back...
While overall Ilya Bryzgalov has played outstanding in goal for the Coyotes, one thing is concerning. The return of the softie. While it isn't nearly as bad as it was last season, the return of the goals in concerning. Bryz had simply shut the door so hard early going that we didn't see these things. But in Detroit there were the two goals from near the blue line. And then in Anaheim there were a couple that he should have had but just couldn't get to. While i'm not getting the alarm bells out yet Bryzzie need to keep his head right and not let those goals get to him.

What Was Wrong With the Kids?
I really don't get this Eriksson signing. I mean I know Sami Lepisto and David Schlemko aren't the ideal guys we'd have in there, but they've been pretty solid filling in for the injured Kurt Sauer. Why bring in this guy? I know I just said I would trust GMDM, but Really? Even the fans from other teams he's been on are shocked. Basically saying he's just this side of useless. Though he can wrack up some assists, he doesn't really add much else. We'll see what he is tonight though. Hopefully it's not a wreck.

Finally We're Back Home.
Sure it was just a short roadtrip and we didn't do terribly, but our home record certainly has improved over what it was in the past. We're 12-5-0 so far this year in an arena that's been often criticized for having terrible ice. Maybe we've finally turned that into an advantage. Either way if we're going to make it into the postseason we';ll have to keep it up as we're about a .500 team once we go on the road (9-8-2).

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I don't know what else to say about that. Sure Ilya Bryzgalov would like a couple of those goals back. Maybe we needed to convert a few more scoring chances. But mainly we needed to stay out of the freaking penalty box. I was so angry at the ones we were taking too. Holding, Hooking, Tripping, just dumb stick penalties. Overall we took 9 penalties, including a penalty shot, which luckily they didn't convert. Practically the only reason we lost this game was being short handed so often. There's just no excuse for it... I give up on this recap... here's the video highlights.

Next Game

 

Phoenix Coyotes		Anaheim Ducks
21-12-2		13-14-7
44 points		33 points
6th in Western Conference		15th in the Western Conference

Saturday, Dec 19, 2009, 2:00 PM MST
Honda Center

TV: Center Ice/Gamecenter only
Radio: XTRA 910AM

Opposition Blogs: Anaheim Calling and Battle of California

Phoenix Coyotes @ Anaheim Ducks - Game Preview #36

posted by OdinMercer about 1 hour ago

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The Dead Zone: Where it seems every Coyotes -Ducks game is broadcast.

The Coyotes and Ducks meet this afternoon for the fourth time this season, and for the third time, neither team is broadcasting the game on television. Last game the Coyotes scrambled at the last minute to put the arena feed with radio coverage on Center Ice, but not this time. Can someone in the league offices please make sure that Someone is broadcasting every game? I mean seriously people pay good money to see all the hockey games and then we hit these types of games? Ridiculous. Not only that but most fans have only been able to see 1 of the games between these teams all year! I get that they're Pacific division opponents and that we see them all the time, but really? 1 of 4. Stellar job guys.

And as I'm typing this we get word that the game will once again be broadcast with the arena feed and Ducks radio. Well at least I get to see it since I have Center Ice, but everyone else is outta luck.

Five for Winning

Play Strong, but not Desperate Defense
It seemed like our defense and players in general were all over the place against the Blue Jackets on Thursday. A defense should be moving, but they were jumping all over the place to try and cover the Jacket's attackers. Typically when they get like that bad things happen, but they made it work of them on Thursday. They'll need to calm things down tonight though.

Point Pinching
The lone regulation goal was netted by Keith Yandle when he came in from the point to bury one. When done right that type of play has been extremely effective for us not only by Yandle, but Jovanovski, Vandermeer and Aucoin have all been productive for us when they come into the play.

Shootout Boost?
Both Shane Doan and Robert Lang have been slow to get on track with their goal scoring this year. However in the shootout they were the go to guys for Coach Dave Tippet and both of them buried their chances. Sure, they aren't regulation goals, and they don't show up on the score sheet, but maybe they can finally help both guys find the back of the net.

Stop Taking Dumb Penalties
The Coyotes took all kinds of sloppy penalties in the last game. another too many men, several stick infractions, just lazy stuff that sent them to the box. Sure out PK has been great, but you can only give the other team so many chances before they make you pay like Rick Nash did.

Leave no Doubt!
The Coyotes have won two of the three meetings against the Ducks this year, but all three games have been decided by one goal. How about this time we locate some of that offence that we found in Toronto and let our division rival have it.

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More photos » by Jay LaPrete - AP

7 days ago: Phoenix Coyotes' Sami Lepisto, left, of Finland, and teammate Keith Yandle celebrate a goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the first period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

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As Dave Strader said at the end of the game, sometimes you play well and get a tough loss and sometimes you play poorly and manage to get the win. That Coyotes were definitely the latter tonight as they probably didn't deserve the W in that performance.

Just 1:48 into the game Keith Yandle took a Jackets' turnover and weaved through a surprised Columbus Defense to take Mathieu Garon top shelf for the Coyotes only regulation goal. The Coyotes would play about 5 more minutes of their typical puck controlling game before the parade to the penalty box started. For the rest of the night the Coyotes seemed to find any way they could to get back into the penalty box. too many men on the ice, silly interference calls. Whatever it took. The box attendant brought lots of Christmas cookies or something I guess. It didn't help to have Rick Nash trying to sell every tap that he received as an elbow. We were really doing enough to shoot ourselves in the foot without a dive thrown in.

Despite all of our poor play we managed to play some decent defense. While Jason LaBarbera did have many issues in terms of effectively getting the puck to his teammates he was solid in goal all night. He stopped the Jackets on many chances that looked easy to convert. He was able to hold them at bay until the middle of the third when after yet another penalty Rick Nash buried in on the Power Play. The Coyotes were even able to weather a penalty the went through the final minute of the 3rd and into overtime. The Coyotes continued to play on their heels for most of the OT frame as well as they just couldn't get much going. Shane Doan almost became the hero after getting the puck in the slot all alone in the slot. Mathieu Garon made a great glove save though to force the shootout.

In the skills competition Kristian Huselius started things off for the Blue Jackets but got stonewalled by LaBarbera. Radim Vrbata was first on the Coyotes side but got push wide to the left and couldn't keep a handle on the puck. Rick Nash then made a sick move on Jason LaBarbera faking him to the left and then pulled the puck through the crease to score. Shane Doan was up next and he put it into the top right corner to even things up. Fedor Tyutin came up next but didn't even get the shot off as LaBarbera poke checked the puck away before he really got close. Robert Lang was the third shooter for the Coyotes and didn't take what was the hardest move, but wristed the puck straight through Mathieu Garon's pads to end the Game and earn the two points.

Overall I didn't like how the Coyotes played. Somehow they found a way to keep the chances to a minimum but they were throwing themselves everywhere and couldn't get any kind of steady system going. LaBarbera bailed them out and all the bounces seemed to go their way. We can't plan on getting too many more gifts like we did tonight though. The guys should be able to recharge and get things back on track for Saturday's game against the Ducks.

Next Game

 

Phoenix Coyotes		Columbus Blue Jackets
20-12-2		14-14-6
42 points		34 points
7th in Western Conference		13th in the Western Conference

Thursday, Dec 17, 2009, 5:00 PM MST
Nationwide Arena

TV: FSN Arizona

Radio: XTRA 910 AM

Opposition Coverage: The Cannon

Phoenix Coyotes at Columbus Blue Jackets Preview - Game #35

posted by OdinMercer 5 minutes ago

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AWOOOOOOOOOOO!