Records?! We don’t need no steenking records!  But we sure love smashing them. From Bryzzie’s phenomenal career high wins & shutouts to our amazing 10 game home streak to our most wins the fastest in the franchise’s history, we’re knocking down all preconceptions faster than anyone ever dreamed. Not to mention the weird and often too knuckle twisting ways we are finding to win.

We took on Nashville and never scored a goal…and still won! Talk about a fantastic game of defense and guts. The Preds are like a mirror image of our own team. (It was like twin brothers battling each other) Both sides showed no weaknesses. And the 10 round shootout at the end was a gut buster of EPIC porportions. Who would have ever predicted Adrian Aucoin as the shoot out savior? Oakie was brilliant (sooo glad he participates in the shootout tourneys at practice) A 1 – 0 win in a tight almost playoff type game is good practice for the real thing. Aucoin is very funny, he says he was just trying to put the goalie to sleep with his speed, we think that the wiley vet has been watchin these things pretty closely and knows exactly what he is doin out there.

We just love the shoot out apparently because we battled Chicago to a standstill behind the amazing game of AZBarbie. Last season we all cringed everytime the name ‘Blackhawks’ came up in conversation. They schooled us and ruled us all season long. Well, that is no more. We took it to the Chi-town boys 3 -1 in our first contest on home ice and then last night we won again on the crazy success of Adrian Aucoin’s sudden shootout prowess. Oaks says this about his second one “Now I’m nervous,” Aucoin said. “The first one was luck. Now it’s actually a streak.” 2 – 1 W, Yotes! Simply amazing as we got our 6th straight victory.

A tired yet elated team rolled into Dallas around 2 am to try to sleep in yet another set of strange and uncomfortable beds. Then the boys dragged into American Airlines Center to face a desperate Marty Turco (who is facing a serious challenge for his job from TBA – tall, bald & Auld). We’ll talk about goalies facing the possibility of being put on the trading block in another post. (along with rumors about possible pickups for the trade deadline… Wisniewski? really?)

We seem to have a very obstinate attitude towards making anything 7 right now. Our 6 game winning streak came to an abrupt end on Saturday night. The desperate Stars came to play and jumped on us from the first puck drop til the last buzzer. I won’t sugar coat it, it was bad all night. A short handed goal was scored on us, the PP went 0 – 6, a rookie scored twice in less than 5 minutes and Marty Turco denied every good old college try that we could muster. The only good thing about the night was Biznasty dropping the hammer on Barch, which was thoroughly enjoyable even though I wished it had been Steve Ott. Yeah we lost and lost badly (okay, we got shut out 4 – 0) but you have to keep everything in perspective. We are 7-3-0 in our last 10! We’re sitting pretty with 75 points (35-19-5), we’ve got 23 games left to get the other 25 points to break 100 and secure a post season berth. We have no severe injuries (except Uppy and Sweets) *knock on wood, lets keep it that way* We just need to break even on this last week before the break and then we get to rest for the sprint portion of the season.

So don’t be disheartened folks. I know we have gotten so caught up in having a competitive team that is spoiling us by finding ways to win no matter what, but the reality is that the boys are going to falter now and then and we just have to hang in there and keep supporting and believing. This Coyotes squad is the real deal and even though there will be a few more bumps and roadblocks, they are going to stay in the hunt for Lord Stanley’s Cup into April and beyond.

It sure is irritating, yet so very cool, to call for tickets and find out there aren’t many left for quite a few games. If you are planning to see the Hawks game on 3/20, you better call quick. That game was close to sold out last week.

So anyways, we play the Oil tonight. Those boys have been having a rough go of it all season. (18-33-6) and (2-7-1) in their last 10. I hate to kick a team when they are down but we need these 2 points. Besides, its not like they didn’t wreck us more than their share last season.

The keys to this game?

Get a good rest and come out raging. Don’t think about the fact that you got smacked in Dallas or the fact that you gotta hit the road again for another nasty road trip. Think only about containing Dustin Penner and Gagne (if he’s well enough to play). Think about taking advantage of Staios, Horcoff and O’Sullivan (the worst +/- holders on the team). These guys are struggling, run through them or over them as often as possible on your way to see Deslauriers about a goal or 5. (The kid owes us for lettin him have his 1st shutout, doesn’t he?) The scoring committee should really ramp themselves up for a bunch of shots on goal, we’ve had too many nights lately where the sogs were horribly lacking, in quality if not in quantity.

Defense and discipline. It has been our ability to execute these two things that has saved our bacon lately. Let’s keep that going. The goalies have gotten used to having help, lets give them a break tonight and limit the amount of rubber they have to fend off. Don’t let their losses fool you, these boys from EDM are sneaky, they have been right on the verge of winning quite a few of these games. Do NOT let them have PP time or we will give them the break they’ve been waiting for to get some confidence and possibly go on a tear.

Maaan Bryz, hang tight. I know there is all kinds of craziness running through your mind right now. Bearing the weight of your country for the Olympics is never easy (especially when that country is Russia) and knowing you are one of the lynchpins for the success of an entire franchise has got to be quite the heavy load. You only have 3 more weeks of double duty big guy. Hold fast, we believe in you. Come out scrappin tonight, you got this!

Sorry this one is so brief but I am crunched for time. Lets just get to the game tonight and let our boys know how much we care. BRING THE NOISE!

See you all at the game, puck drops late on this one folks 7:30 start time. See you all there.

As always… Go Coyotes!

Apparently working 9hrs and school for another 3hrs every day is resulting in epic fail for my posting habits. So I will endeavor to catch up.

Wings 5 – 4  We won… at the Joe…  I know the Wings have been struggling lately but give the boys their due. This was no easy task. Both Zetterberg and Datsyuk were in this game, neither of them could take over and run us like they used to. This pack is somethin else when they decide to bear down and take a game to its limits. It was gratifying to see that the boys refused to quit even after Lidstrom nailed us twice. Apparently there is no such thing as a game out of reach for these guys.

Flames 3 – 2 We won… despite a house packed with Flamers. These 1 point games are killers. But to give Calgary their due, that was one hungry team on the ice. Desperation doesn’t even describe it. We handed them their 9th straight loss. No wonder the team is getting blown up even as I type. We’ve already seen Phaneuf leave town. (Our poor Sjo got dragged with him but at least he was wanted, not sloughed off. Poor Prust, is he ever gonna find a real home?) Now its buh bye Olli and Brandon? Hello Kotalik and Chris Higgins? If Darren Dreger of TSN is right, what a weird trade but at least Calgary gets rid of 2 rumored cancers and can get back on track.

Rangers 3 -2 We won on Teppo retirement night! How awesome is that? Especially since it was the 3rd straight win in a row. Sean Avery is still a puke. (too bad we let the lil arseclown score) The creepy little feces disturber was up to his dirty deeds before the puck even dropped. (whacking Bissonnette was not the smartest thing he ever did but luckily Paul did the smart thing and ignored the pest). I sincerely hope we learn to put these things completely out of reach before one of these comes back to bite us in the butt. 3 – 0 in the 1st only to let Gabby and Creepy give the Rangers hope in the 3rd *facepalm* But its okay, AZBarbie held on through the blizzard at the end and we handed the ailing Rangers their 5th straight loss.

Stars 4 -2 We won! On Tip’s first trip back to Dallas since they stupidly gave him the boot. We have won all 3 meetings so far with Tippett’s former team. We play them 2 more times in the next 2 weeks. The game got pretty scrappy and I can’t even imagine how bad it may get, playing them so much, so close together. 4 Yotes with points and 3 of the 4 with multiple points…suhweet! Vernon Fiddler with back to back nasty blocks to help keep the Stars from gaining control of the end of the 3rd period. 4th straight win. (I wonder how many in a row we’ll have to win before TSN give us props in the power rankings? Seriously TSN? The Flames move up based on the trades?) *ESPN has moved us up from 10 to 6th…guess they’re one of the few looking under the radar?

Scottie Upshall – torn ACL, surgery imminent. Sucks in the worst way. If anyone could be termed irreplacable in this pack, it would be the Gr8Scott. How does such a little guy leave such a big hole? Well, he’s 90% heart and that is hard to replace. Even if the surgery goes well and the tear isn’t horrendous we probably won’t see Scottie for the rest of the season and maybe not even the start of the next (Most orthopedic physicians agree that a minimum of 6 months is needed before returning to competitive sports. Because of potential risks of reinjury, however, most recommend waiting 7 to 9 months.) *Jerry Rice made it back to the NFL in 3 1/2 months, only to scrag the whole knee in his first game back*…we don’t even want to contemplate something like that for our boy. Take your time Uppy, get well soon. We’ll miss you on the ice but rest assured, your boys have it covered.

Trade deadline – March 3rd is bearing down on us like a lion. What will GMDM do? With Upshall out, I am sure Don’s phones are ringing off the hook. Teams will be looking to steal from us, to capitalize off what will appear to outsiders as a desperation factor. They don’t know the Don very well if they think they can trade their junk for some of our prospects and picks. Will he stand pat? Guess it will depend on the next few games. Mueller stepped up huge in Dallas (perfect timing Petey! Show you can be the missing piece of the Lombo-combo line and give Don some more breathing room) Has GMDM already got someone in his sights? More than likely. You know the Don, value is his middle name… (we’ll take a look at the possibles on Wednesday… errr maybe Thursday) Tippett’s pack doesn’t let much throw them for long. There are 26 regular games left in the season. We need to win a little more than half of them and get to 100 points to be sure to make it to the ‘extra session games’ (we’re avoiding the P word because I am a superstitious cow who is afraid to jinx the boys). Can we do it? Hell to the yeah! One for all and all for one against a world that is still dubious about whether we’re the real deal or not.

Some food for thought

Yandle – 10-19 for 29 points AND +10! Enough said. I’m won over.

Mueller – You can say that anybody playing on a line with a red hot Doan should be able to score but it just ain’t so. (exhibit A - Olie Jokinen) Mueller manned up in Dallas and exhibited skills we haven’t seen in a month of Sundays. Give the boy his props and cross all your appendages that this isn’t a one time deal.

Blueline points – Our defense is #1 in the NHL for points! The boys in the back keep steppin up to the front. Bombs, lasers, wicked wristers, these guys have an entire arsenal back there and apparently they are not afraid to use any of it. Kudos!

Bryz – He may have faltered a bit but don’t count Beast-galov out. The Russian pillow is back! We may still see a few 3 or 4 hole issues but for the most part Bryzzie has been stellar after getting his head back together. That is one determined goalie in our net. He has proven that  he is a crunch guy (see the Duck’s Stanley Cup run for your proof if you doubt the veracity of that statement) This is as big as it gets for a #1 guy, keeping your team in the hunt is the stuff NHL dreams are made of. Focus and calm seem to be his trademarks lately. Look out Vezina, there is a new boy in the race.

Attendence – 12,725 vs Calgary on a weeknight. 16,687 vs New York on a Saturday.  Chicago is nearly sold out already for 3/20. Methinks, the general public is starting to figure out that the JobArena is the cool place to be. Alice Cooper and Muhammad Ali have made return visits, Vince Vaughn has hung out with us too. We’re the hot ticket now and things will only keep getting better as we keep battling closer to the post season.

Teppo Numminen – It was fantastic to see one of our best honored. He seemed so pleased with the whole thing. Man of few words, our RepoMan. Our ring of honor finally got its first Coyotes player! I wish I had made a better sign since it got some camera time towards the end of the ceremony. But my heart and sentiments were in the right place, Congratulations Teppo, enjoy your retirement. You definitely deserve every honor the Yotes can give you.

Captain Shane Doan with the NHL’s 1st star!

We take on the Nashville Predators tomorrow. Puck drops at 6PM. Let’s get a win for Fiddy’s return to Nashville!

Keys to the game?

Play the system! No matter what the Preds throw at us (and you better believe it will be everything they’ve got) we have to stay disciplined and play all 60 minutes. The Preds have lost 5 of their last 6 and are looking to halt their slide before they skid out of the hunt. (The Preds were tied with us before the skid, they now sit 7th place in the conference with 63 points)

The committee members have to show up. We don’t do too well at Sommet Center (haven’t won there in awhile, like 2 years?) We need to bring the heat early and often. We’re 26-2-1 when we score first. Don’t let the goalie with the funny name (Pekka Rinne) get settled. Last time Scottie Upshall pulled our collective chestnuts out of the fire. This would be a great time for our big guns to stay hot. Doan, Vrbata and Mueller can get this party started right and let the blueliners finish it off. We need to win this in regulation, don’t give the Preds anything to move them up in the standings or they could get on a tear and catch us again… no bueno! Plus with Langer out our shootout might just kill us.

Defense! Defense! Defense! Martin Erat is a dangerous man. These boys can play the scoring by committee game just as well as us. We’re going to have to be sharp, these boys really throw some rubber at the net when they face us. Positioning and heart is where our blueline has to be. Keep these guys out of the scoring areas at all costs.

Watch your back Breezy there will be rubber flyin from every angle these boys can try. This will likely be a pretty high sog game. Danger! Danger! Be sharp and give the boys the chance to score first please.

Special teams…meh… play the system and let special teams be a non-factor please.

There is a new media gurl on the Yotes beat. Be sure to check Sarah out on Twitter. She has some great insider videos to share.

As always… GO COYOTES!

8 penalties? EIGHT?! Do I need to pull out my dictionary and make you go over the words discipline, control and restraint? I didn’t go over this in the keys to the game because I just assumed you knew better than to turn this into a special teams competition. Well I guess I was wrong, what part of #1 power play team shouldn’t get power play opportunities, didn’t you get?  ok, ok maybe thats a little harsh for a beginning…let’s back up a notch and take a look at the good, the not so good and the ‘other’ stuff. (I’m not going to call it bad stuff…just ‘other’)

The good -

the Korpedo! – Lauri Korpikoski (try spelling that 5 times fast!) This guy really doesn’t do things by half measure, he loves a good twofer. Turned on the afterburners and did his share with 2 goals to keep us in this one. Almost pulled an Upshall but just missed getting that 3rd goal. (yes we are going to refer to natural hatties as Upshalls until someone else gets one)

Vernon Fiddler – a shorty try, 4sogs, some hits and blocked shots plus a sweet 53% in the circles. That all counts as good in my book. 

Robert Lang – 53% on the dots, 2 assists and +1 for the night. I know I’ve been on him a lot lately but not for this game. Not bad Langer, not bad at all… even with the 2 give aways.

Peter Mueller -  +1, 1 assist and the beginnings of a mini point streak. (ok its not a ’streak’ exactly but the number of games with out a point are not as far between any more, its a start right?) Maybe its reaching but he needs a little positive encouragement after the way I’ve been riding him. He’s got the tools and he seems to be getting some confidence to use them finally, its good to see.

Also good… no highlight reel goals for either of the crazy DC Russians. whoo hoo! (really tiresome watchin that last one over and over again)

The not so good -

The Coyotes managed three shots on goal during their five power plays, but had six short-handed chances during the Capitals’ seven power plays. So should we just ask to be a man down instead of a man advantage from now on when the other team committs a penalty?

41% on the face off dots? 3/10? 4/11? Can you say puck possession fail? Not even gonna say whose stats those were but that is just ugly. Maybe we shoulda been watching a whole bunch of film on Backstrum/Steckel face offs cuz they were each 12/7. We have to get the puck before moving on to keeping it and even further forward, to doing something with it… like putting it in the net.

18 giveaways? sheesh, don’t have to say much about that do I?

The other stuff -

Z? sweetie, I know it is tough playing your side of the zone (the side that Ovie likes to backdoor goalies on). I realize you were under siege, its tough to be you under any circumstances but honey you are really gonna have to get a handle on that puck over glass thing. Gonna ignore the tripping penalty because Ovie skated over you and your stick and well, short of just giving him the lane, what could you do? Betcha if MamaZ was to look up the history on your meager penalty minutes, 75% or more would be POG…….. just sayin.

Sami? On your big triumphant return to where it all began? Hooking AND holding? You got tagged for 2 of the lazyman penalties doode. These happen when you are caught out of position or when you can’t handle your man… or both…ouch. You did have hustle and you did work hard but lets try smarter for a bit sweetie. You weren’t the only one getting outworked though, if its any consolation besides, duude you still got fans in DC! Crazy ones!

Scoring committee? Unusually MIA last night. Seemed like no one was shooting… the stats say 30 sogs but really? How many were actually sogs and how many were hail Marys thrown in the general direction of the Cap’s net? Neurosis or however you say that goalie’s name was shaky as hell at the start, no one picked up on that? Needed to keep him shook up with a decent barrage coming out of the gate. Lombo? Prucha? Aucoin? all zero sogs… sighhh.

Power play? Isn’t there any way we can decline these? Seriously? Please? didn’t we talk about this zero for PP thing before? 0 – 5 is just not acceptable… difference between taking a point out of this one and goin away empty handed.

Despite everything, this was a tight game, a close game for most of the 60 minutes. As Tippett usually says, we can be better, we have some stuff to work on. Seems like just when we get one thing straightened out, something else rears its ugly head. But we’re still #2 in the Pacific, #5 in the West and tied for 8th with PIT in the league. (It won’t take much to change those stats if we can’t pick up our road game a bit).

We’ve got another ugly game coming up on Tuesday night. The Ded Things are on the horizon in their own barn. The Joe has not always been kind to us with its funky bouncing backboards and snarky crowds. But it is definitely doable and a win there is the very thing we need to get rolling again.

In other news *******************

Yotes help Haiti “Prior to next Thursday’s game, the Coyotes players’ wives and girlfriends will hold a Dollar Drive outside Jobing.com Arena’s Gate 4 and Gate 7,  from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. During the game, the Coyotes Community Table, located outside section 115, will auction off a luxury suite for 12 people for a future home game, as well as autographed Coyotes memorabilia. In addition, Facility Merchandising, Inc. (FMI), which manages and operates the Coyotes Den Team Store, will donate 10% of its non-discounted sales from the evening to the cause.”

Yotes n friends on Twitter – Dave Strader, Scottie Upshall, Luke Lapinski and Todd Walsh have embraced the popular social networking media with Tweets on Coyotes happenings and unique information for the fans. We’re on Twitter too… sorta sporadically

I was thinking about our unemployed and under employed faithful fans when I ran across a couple of new places to look for employment. (besides the old faithfuls Jobing and Dice ), the economy picture isn’t pretty so every opportunity to help each other out is good stuff. If you have any faves or successful ones pass ‘em along we’ll try to get them out there.

http://www.us.randstad.com/

http://www.careerstallion.com/

top photo from Clyde

Lepisto love from Caps girl

As always…GO COYOTES!

OM frickin God… the storm warnings didn’t tell us a tornado named Scottie Upshall would touch down in the middle of Glendale. It wasn’t all about Scottie last night though. The whole team had wonderful performances but TheGr8Scott had the performance of his career with a natural hattie (his 1st ever)  in the 3rd period to put the icing on this cake.

THIS is incredible. Coming back like this after the slug-ugly game before? IDK if the ‘other’ Coyotes could have done it. This just may be the major difference between the old Yotes and the new ones. This newly found ability to pick ourselves up by the skate straps and find a way to win important games after a tough loss or skid.

It took about 50 games for us to even have a meltdown. That, in and of itself is a mini miracle. Then we go and pull off a rebound! Simply boggles the mind. Last season, there were meltdowns all the time and there was the post-ASG meltdown of EPIC proportions from which we just couldn’t seem to recover. (oh I know we got Uppy n Lombo and started showing signs of life again but we all know it was too little too late)

This Preds game had several key resiliancy factors to it. Our record when scoring 1st is simply incredible 23 – 2 – 2! We are a dangerous and nasty team with a small lead (its the big leads we need to work on keeping). It was good to see the boys bounce back hard. Around 10k or so insane fans battled the weather, which was horrific, to come see the kids play. They were noisy and raucus despite their chilled and soggy condition.

Biznasty – Paul Bissonnette has been having a crazy run, pure energy. Key goals, big hits and the ability to hang around for screens have been his hallmark lately. Keep it up Bizzy! He may not have the hands to put away all of his chances but he is creating buzz in the opponent’s zone nearly every shift by his tenacity and nasty.

Bryzzie – back in the saddle and rolling dirty. With the defense a little slow to get after shooters (especially in the high slot) Bryz has had his hands full. This game was no exception. Bryz made much of it look easy (the goal from that crap pass from Z to JV is not on Breezy) He’s doing his part again and that kept us in this game long enough to get the win.

Lombo combo featuring Shane Doan – sounds like a band at one of our jazz bars doesn’t it? Well any line featuring Lombardi gets major chances. The kid can really pass. If you can’t score with Lombo, you really have issues. Tippett has been swappin Doan around like a hot potato and it seems to have woken the Captain up. This line had chances all night and looked damn good doing it. Good job for remembering you ain’t just a passer Lombo, sweet goal, to give us the jumpstart we needed.

Czech your 2 points at the door, no return policy. The Czechs are still shutting off the entry through the neutral. People are expecting big points from Vrby and Pru but it is their efficiency at stealing pucks and trapping up the opponent’s big guns that make these guys so very valuable. Prucha has been a monster (he creates chances by making the other team make mistakes) he’s so wired I think he just makes the other players dizzy trying to get around him.

Gr8Scott – what can I write about Scottie’s game that other people haven’t already said? We could see Scottie gettin hotter over the last few weeks, his play without the puck has been really strong but he has been so close, so many times, we could tell his day was coming. Congratulations on the your first hattie Scottie. It was well deserved!

The gang was all in synch last night. A few faux pas here and there and the last 3 minutes we could see they were kinda easing up on the Preds. We gotta stop doing that! In this tight conference, especially against teams like the Preds, we have to learn to battle all 60 minutes. Overall though, everyone contributed to their role well. Impressed with Mueller’s game again as well as the continuing great play by Fiddy.

I love the Preds and their fans are simply awesome. Some of the most miserable hours of BK court were mitigated by the support of some bodaciously righteous Preds fans. Buddy and Mark to name just 2. I wish the Preds well in all games except against us of course. They are so much like us, from the scrappy no name team surprising everyone to the survival of the BaldSilly madness. Even their no nonsense coaching and pack style of play is similiar. On any given day we can trade spots with these guys. I hope we both make it to the ‘extra games’ in April.

In other news ***********************

I still hate MOST of the Buffalo fans in Phoenix. I hope your team sinks into a skid so horrible that they feel the effects of it for the next 100 years. Sorry Sabres, its not you, its some of your lice ridden, drunken, pond scum licking fans here in Phoenix. Yeah I went there and I am not sorry for it. While I am sure there are exceptions (hell I even know a couple, Hi Mike!) for the most part that description fits the majority of the slug apparelled jug heads present in the arena on 1/18/2010.

exhibit A – Standing drunkenly on a chair in the middle of Coyotes fans on the outside patio yelling at the top of their lungs “this is our patio now bitches” or this beauty “your team is so bad, no wonder you don’t have any effing fans”

exhibit B – Telling the Coyotes fans behind them, “your team sucks and you are all a bunch of losing effers, no wonder your team is leaving”

exhibit C – throwing their beer on a family for standing and cheering when the Coyotes finally scored… including a 2 year old girl

So, yeah, still pissed and still sorry assault with a deadly weapon wasn’t an option.

On to better news flashes **********

We had a season ticket holders event on Tuesday night. About 1k loyal and hardy souls braved the inclement weather to spend a few off ice moments with their boys. You might think the kids woulda been snarky and pissy after the Sabres debacle but you would be dead wrong. The guys had their best smiles and social chit chat for their fans. They shook hands, smiled pretty for pictures and were charming and sweet to all.

From the effervescent Doan to the shy Prucha, they were a delight to mingle with. I’m still Z’s girl but I gotta tell ya, if you haven’t spoken to Ilya Bryzgalov, you are really missing something special. (It’s not all about the funny Bryz, he’s a genuinely warm and sweet person.) My next jersey is probably going to sport the number 30 (sorry Sweets, I will get a #44 soon too)

Scottie Upshall made the NHL 3 stars list AND the NHLPA’s player of the day. How awesome is that for mad props?

Lots of interesting stories around the net on the Yotes, surprisingly, most of it informed and positive.

View from Suite 1114 – Scott Burnside of ESPN comes to visit.

Coyotes coach Dave Tippett on life in Phoenix and some words from the rest of the staff as well.

Ice Edge has been on the move lately too. No timetable is set for concluding the deal.

Next up, we face Alex O and the mad, bad and dangerous to know Caps today. We’ve fought them to a standstill lately. ( 4Ws out of the last 5 tilts) There will be nothing easy about the start of this mini road trip. The Capitals are on a 5 game winning streak behind the almost always red hot Ovie. The official preview talks about cooling those boys off. They may get Greenie, Erskine and Pothier back tonight so we better be ready. (Green has been on an offensive roll lately too)

Keys to this game?

Just say NO to the O! The always hard to play against Martin Hanzal and his Czech line will have their hands full with the crazy Russian highlight goal king. So far this line has had great success shutting down top scoring lines. This will be doubly important in this matchup. Taking Ovie out of the equation brings the Caps down to earth, where we can battle on a more even playing field.

Defense, discipline, defensive discipline? #2 is gonna have to step up his game (where forth are thou rough and ready Vandemeer?) With Jovo having to watch himself (due to the completely unfair tag of ‘repeat offender’) our number 2 hitter better get to making people’s heads swivel. The blueliners have to get the lead out, start holding the line a little better, keep their end up at the neutral zone and keep playing street sweepers for our back-on-track Bryzzie. We gotta stop lettin our netminders face so many shots every night.

Goal tending needs to be mind bending. Bryz seems to be back. He got a taste of rubber last game (stopping 41 of 43 shots). Are his head and heart back into the quest? Tonight is going to help answer that question. The Caps have been averaging around 33 shots per game, Bryzzie has been facing a lot more puck than that lately so, no softies in this joust! We just can’t afford the let down and the uncertainty that come with those.

This is definately a winnable game. We need to match intensity and physicality with the Capitals. But we will definitely have to play all 60 minutes (this team actually plays better from behind) so score first and score often. No coasting!

Wanna watch the game but don’t have the Versus option? Check out the online feed from Yahoo sports. Wanna talk to other fans during the game? TheNHLarena has a chat, as does the HFBoards group. Five for Howling will have a thread later today too. Not near a computer at 5pm? Check out your radio to listen to Heeter on Xtra 910. Ooops almost forgot… tweeples can follow game on the newly created @coyotesgameday Twitter account.

~Upshall pic from the Associated Press and Azcentral – no photographer credit shown…

As always… GO COYOTES!

Can we please make this happen again? Lifelong Sabres fans removing the Buffaslug to return from the darkside would be a perfect way to end MLK day.

Last game AZBarbie was shelled to hell and back (39 sogs), he stopped 37 of them. It wasn’t quite enough since our boys couldn’t find a way past Ryan Miller more than once. We lost 2 – 1 in the HSBC. This is a short series, we only face each other twice. We do NOT want to let them sweep us. The Sabres are 7-0-3 while we are 4-3-3 in the last 10. Let’s wreck their road trip for them and make them really mad for when they face the rest of the Pacific. (Maybe they’ll cut a winning swathe through those guys and help us maintain our position in the division) muwhahaha! Such an evile plan, I like it!

With 8 players over 20 points and a goalie sporting a 26-8-4 record, these guys are not going to be easy to take down. We need to have everyone on the same page, mentally and especially physically. Remember this?

Keys to this game?

The Sabres had to go to OT to take the Thrashers and to shootout to get a point against the Islanders. They aren’t scoring a whole lot right now (only 4 goals scored in regulation, so far on this road trip), its all about Ryan Miller. The guy is a monster but he can be had. Right now Ryan is leaving rebound after juicy rebound out there for the taking. We have to be ready to give second and even third personal efforts to get anything past him. Screens and redirections will be our only friends tomorrow night.

Every line has to be an offensive juggernaut. Sacrifices will have to be made to get inside the Sabres kitchen. We’ve opened the flood gates (I hope) for Doan and Mueller. Prucha, Fiddy and Vrbata are hot right now and even Winnie has had a taste of blood. Let’s keep those gates open. Draw first blood and keep shooting til the final horn. And remember, if you are gifted with a power play for hard work and moving your feet, you damn well better score on it. It can mean the difference between being swept and climbing the ladder over Nashville.

Defense? Hey! Wake up! We’re gonna need you guys to be sharp. None of that laid back crap. If you don’t cover Breezy’s butt, we’re all in deep kimchee, old, sour kimchee (have you ever smelled bad kimchee?) You guys left him wide open more times than I want to think about in the third period against the Wild…don’t let it happen again. Make the neutral zone an ugly, unhappy place to be wearing the Buffaslug.

Bryzzie…watch yer six and yer glove side high! If those boys have been watching film, they know just where your forcefield ends.

No lazy or stupid penalties. We’ve been fairly disciplined lately and we’ve been rewarded with wins. Do NOT give these guys any wiggle room. Their PP is dangerous on any given night with Vanek and the red hot Connolly. You do however have my permission to punk Patrick Kaleta as often as you can get away with… but if you are going to take a penalty for it… make it well worth the price.

Doors open early 4PM for a 5pm puck drop. Need tickets? Ambassadors club discount is still available. Its too late to buy Pepsi at the CircleK for tomorrow but you can still do that for Teppo’s ceremony night on the 30th (last night of the Pepsi ticket deal) Also remember to follow @walshtodd on twitter for your Coyotes insider news and a chance at free tickets (it’s sometimes lonely being a Yotie news guy over there in Twitterland, join his followers, make a loyal broadcaster happy)

As always… GO COYOTES!

Speaking of going away mad as hell, was that not a corker of a way to end the Wild game? Did Yandle really unload on OhNo? Did Fiddy really pull that poor putz Sheppard outta that elf pile and put the smack down? OH WAIT silly me…that was last game. We need to click forward to last night, same result, a win, different ways and means to get there.

Can we get a damn whistle? If this ref can see a puck in there, I’m Halle Berry. Obligatory ref bitching … first you blow whistles like you get paid by the tweet, then you act like the whistle is somewhere unmentionable and you can’t get it out in mixed company. Consistency zebras, consistency! Ok, all done, back to the game.

40 effin minutes!  The boys still have to learn the main lesson of success in the NHL.

The boys started off the first period hot behind Pruuu!!! Under 8 minutes in, Petr struck with the wrister. Then 3 minutes later Doaner would benefit from the line change with another wrister (he got everything on it from the high slot and it was beautiful). We may have to call the line of Doaner,Fiddy and Winnie, the bull in a china shop line. Those boys all play a similar style, mostly slash and burn run ‘em over ‘em or run through ‘em hockey. Whatever you call them, they clicked well last night.

The second period, the Wild showed a little gumption and Lantendresse was able to put the only marker of the period on the board with a serious persoanl effort and a nice wrister of his own. We let our foot off the gas a little in this period and paid for it. We also failed to capitalize on the 2 power plays and we’re damn lucky that lil fail didn’t bite us in the butt later.

The 3rd period was where all the action was. 5 penalties and 4 special team goals between the teams as the action became more wide open. Aucoin, Prucha and Fiddler would all light the lamp in the first 10 minutes seeming to put this game out of the Elves reach at 5 -1. But never count a Christmas elf down before the final buzzer. As soon as we started coasting again, Lantandresse would again ramp up the volume with a PP goal, followed by Owen Nolan’s PP goal (the trips to the box nearly burned us good) and one more from Lantandresse for good measure at even strength for the hattie. Whoa wha happened to our 4 goal lead? The Wild pulled within 1 and were going for broke when Vrbata took the wind ot from under their sleigh with his goal 1 minute before the final buzzer.

Tippett was very unhappy leaving the ice. As a coach I don’t blame him, that game really shoulda ended 6 -1 but we got sloppy/lazy and nearly got slapped. Moral of this story? Play all 60 minutes! The first period 100% effort. The second period bump it up a notch to 110% if you aint gettin the job done. Third period, play like your life depends on it and if you don’t have that gear… maybe you shouldn’t be playin this game.

Notable player in this game? Big Ed Jovanovski and his 4 assists. Who is this madman with the career high assist contribution? Well, I think its the guy we all have been waiting for since TGO & Barney showed up at his doorstep to offer him 6million per year and an NTC. 4 assists, +4 and 2 blocked shots, now THATS a hell of a night for the big guy on his return from suspension. Being branded a repeat offender doesn’t sit well with BigE, there were no hits last night but he certainly made his presence felt in spite of that.

Ouchies – Uppy had one of those PMS kinda nights. Going full Gr8-Scott-out all night earned him a few penalties he’d rather not have garnered at the end. When you are playin this game balls out sometimes shite happens. I hope he doesn’t get more than a stern talking to this time, we really need him in these games.

Pruuuu!!! Is there anything better than PetrPuck on a tear? Renney must be so proud pissed. After doing so much to tear this kid down, it must be galling to see him doing so well in the desert. Keep on giving him the ultimate finger Petr…successfully proving you are a hell of an asset. Funniest part of the night came on the last goal which looked like a Pru hattie. Hats were raining down all over the ice… Pru was on the bench laughin his ass off and pointing to Vrby. Turned out that last goal wasn’t Petr’s, it was Vrby’s. Showed great emotion on the part of the crowd and just how much they wanted the kid to have that honor. Ah well, he got 2 big goals and provided awesome entertainment.

Vern? Is that you Vern? 65% in the dots, an assist and the GWG…shorthanded no less. Now that right there is a complete player. Is there anyone on this team that isn’t underrated? Fiddy has been rock solid all season and tonight was no exception. But tonight was a case of Fiddling while Backstrum got burned for the 3rd time.

Hit of the night? None other than Marty Hanzal on one of our least favorite elves Cal Clutterbuck.

Big Czech!

Although Pyatt on Zanon was also pretty sweet. (Zanon should try glare-away for those wayward helmet moments)

Fair crowd (around 12k) for a night when just about every other sport in town was available (ummm the Suns and Cards lost miserably). Those 12k were vocal as all get out. On their feet alot and even some pockets of fans bowing to the force of nature they call Breezy. Talk about a Russian cold front! Ilya Bryzgalov was putting the freeze on the opposition but you could see a couple of spots he still has to work on for when the boys break down (notably the fat juicy rebound to Nolan as an example). Z, Jovo and Winnie all took a turn at playin street sweeper for the big guy in this game but for the most part Breezy did his fair share, especially on the Brunette almost goal.

THIS is the team I always wanted to see, scoring seemingly at will while playing smart defensively. Hope we see them often… ummm, without the 10 -15 minute lag times. Even sweeter, they won, we won so there were reward tickets for all in attendance. You might wanna use those to watch Thursday’s game against the Predators. (It looks like a hell storm may break out in that one with NSH tied with us for 4th in conference and 6th in league BIG POINTS to be had that night)

But lets not get ahead of ourselves. We face the extremely hot Buffalo Sabres on Monday. Puck drops early (5pm for the MLK holiday).

EDIT*** just got word that Todd Walsh has some tickets to give away for the We Win, You Win game on 2/13… he does good tweets too so go follow him at  @walshtodd for your shot at tickets for 2/13 AND great Coyotes news.

**photos from Norm Hall and the AP feeds

As always … GO COYOTES!

What a night! We exorcised a few demons Thursday night. We got 2 points in regulation against one of the premiere teams in the league, We played the system and worked hard for an entire 60 minutes. Stupendous night! Absolutely stupendous. So much to mention, I will just hit a few highlights for now.

Peter Mueller, dude! See what happens when you shoot the puck! Whenever you get down or discouraged, think about beating one of the most amazing goalies of all time. Mano e Mano and you came out the winner. That should keep the starch in your stick for quite awhile bucko. Congratulations!

My baby boy had a hell of a night. Great game as always but getting the game winning goal on Marty Brodeur! Priceless. (Thanks Pyatt and Vrby for the screens)

Winnie, Pyatt and Fiddy! You guys rock. Strong shifts, not one ounce of give up in you three. Winnick is THE man. Paid the price and got rewarded for it finally.

Uppy and Pruuu!!! were like spider monkeys on crack… chances everywhere when those two get goin.

Second period…. lets not dwell on it. We were out of synch and let the Devils back into the game.

What really counts is halting the mini-skid in its tracks and grabbing two points to get back into our solid positioning in the standings. You do realize we’ve stayed in the top 8 of the league nearly all season long. Not like last year when we kept sliding down and climbing back up into contention. This is a whole different team. A better team and a more consistently battling team. It feels great to be able to say that.

So tonight is Shane Doan Bobblehead night. I know it may be tough to fill the seats with the Cards also playing but if you can get there, please do so. Its the Captain’s night and we need to do him proud. Game 3 against the Wild. They uused to own us but we’ve managed to get by them twice already. Let that trend continue please. What needs to happen?

Keys to the game? same as last time and the time before please.

Get the dirty goals. Gotta jump on Backie quick. Lots of bodies in front of the net getting multiple whacks at every scoring chance. The guy is good but he can be beat (we’ve already done it twice this season) St Nick hasn’t been having a good month, lets keep it that way. Plus Josh would like some more action and he’s a sweetie so we can spank Nick and maybe Josh will get the Wild’s next game? Another goalie showdown is about to go down. May ours be the last to blink!

Be aggressive and stay that way all 60 friggin minutes. Do NOT play to protect a lead!  We’ve seen how much difference a PP can make in a game, let’s keep ours rolling. Jovo is back tonight and there’s another big body to screen for the PP.

Watch the Wild’s dynamic duo, Koivu and Miettinen and for god’s sake keep an eye on Havlat. Those 3 spell trouble with a capital T! Contain Clutterbuck but don’t let him get to you, he’s a menace and will start as much trouble as he can. Stay focused on the game not the antics.

The elves must die. Lets get wild n crazy on the Wild! Bring the noise tonight people, the team really loves and appreciates it. If you need tickets you know the link by now but here it is again Ambassador’s Club Discount. code word: coyotes

********personal note to BizNasty… good running into you (literally and got a great hug out of it) You gotta get back into the line up doll. You are missed.

As always… GO COYOTES!

I was too damn mad to write last night. I wasn’t sure what would fly off my fingertips. I wouldn’t mind the refs knowing how I felt about their horrid performance but I didn’t wanna say something I might regret about the team in all that heat.

I probably shoulda just put this one out of my mind but now that I’ve cooled off a bit…

Antonio Jason Labarbera! Stay in your damn net! I am about 2 seconds away from duct taping you to the posts. You are not a good puck handler but you do have some redeeming qualities if you just friggin play to your strengths and stop shooting yourself in the skates. (GMDM, I am trying to see what you saw but after games like last night, it is just tough. I have been trying to avoid saying this… but maaan I wish we had that little Swedish Wolf back)

Daniel Winnick never gives up and never says die. Thank you for providing a ray of tenacity and maintaining the system in the face of great adversity. Too bad your team didn’t help you carry the banner.

Joe Thornton… you POS excuse for a player. I hope someone rings your bell soon. What you did to Z was stupid and totally uneccessary. I officially HATE you and hope the Sharks bomb again in the playoffs and you get traded to Carolina. And yes, your butt IS big, its not the shorts A-hole.

Thank you Vrby for not letting this game be a goose egg. Please get hot soon… you too Pruuu! and Mueller and Doaner and… well, you get the picture.

Dave Tipppett… the Sharks seem to have stolen a pair of balls from somewhere. WTH? was Paul Bissonette? Can you say Shelly, McLaren, Clowe and Murray? Never assume these guys will only play skill hockey. Paul deserved to be in this game (if he isn’t hurt) Biz ‘earned’ the right to play last night. Didn’t he spark a friggin comeback against the Isles? Didn’t he score when no one else could find a way? He might not be the biggest deterrent against arse clowning but he’s the best we got. Unless you got plans to call up Francis? What does it say about our abilities when even the Sharks decide to mess with us and no one does a thing about it? (Vandemeer? Aucoin? Pyatt? you all have reps for not taking much shit, we could sure use a bit of that about now.)

This entry reads like good cop, bad cop doesn’t it? That game apparently made me schizoid.

We didn’t follow the system. We didn’t stick up for each other. We didn’t play as a pack. We didn’t deserve to win. Bryzzie isn’t the only one who needs to reassess his game and get his act back together. Stop the madness. On any given day this team is top 10 but only if it’s all for one and one for all.

We are beat up and struggling but it is not the end of the world. This is our first 3 game L streak. We have to find a power play, teams will continue to beat up on us because we can’t fight and win and we can’t make them pay on the score board. If everyone remembers their role and does their job to the best of their ability it will be our last one. All eyes are on you, its gotta be tough knowing everyone expects you to fail. Don’t listen, don’t read, don’t pay those haterz no mind. WE BELIEVE! and we’re behind you 110%, so stand up and skate proud, skate like a pack and make yourselves and us proud.

*** personal note to the NHL… there needs to be repercussions for your officials. I know they are supposed to do their best since they are paid professionals but apparently thats not working so well. Seriously! Before this game I just chalked some of the BS down to general whining about reffing. Now I wonder what is going on at ref school and if there is a minimum eye sight requirement for your zebras. Really, it just keeps getting worse. You gotta find a way to enforce consistency and at least a modicum of understanding what the hell they are supposed to be doing. Cause it sure as hell ain’t impartially reffing hockey.

***personal note to the reffing community… many of you suck, some of you are trying to do a good job and sometimes get it wrong, some of you should be fired and tarred and feathered. I have never alternated between hate and loathing so often as this season. Every team deserves respect and at least an attempt at impartiality. Please clean up your act, there is only so much a sport can take before it becomes a joke and fans walk away. Think of it as job security.

On that note…

Martin Brodeur brings his record breakin butt to town tomorrow. It would sure be nice to mend our tattered reputations with a win against the Devils. It can be done you know. Hell WE’VE done it before.

The keys to this game?

Well I would say goalie battle! except I’m not sure how deep into the dark Bryzzie has gone. We just might be seeing AZBarbie (I will bring the duct tape just in case… I wonder how much money a flight from Russia last minute would cost? Anyone got Telly’s phone number?) Okay truly, the only way we can hope to end this one with dignity is for whoever steps between our pipes to have all the mojo they can muster. ( I will break out my lucky bingo troll just in case)

Contain Parise, Zajak and Captain America, Jamie Langenbrunner… oy vey! The neutral zone is about to become one very dangerous place but if we can hold them out there or to perimeter shots, we just might come out on top. The Devil’s are very hit or miss when it comes to offense but all it takes is one of these guys to tag up and Marty will hold the line. My solution is to just say no to the dynamic trio.

Take advantage of the few weak spots like Pandolfo or Pelley. Both are -5 and may just provide the chink in the Devil’s armor. Find some guys who may not be cookin with gas and blow through them instead of dumping and recovering. Use your speed! Use your aggression! Use your heads! Trust me on this, you guys can do this…together!

Watch out for Salvador and Peters. If you don’t want a repeat of Tuesday night, keep these guys in your sights and don’t let them punk your mates, they’ve been known to throw down and you can’t go out like that. We don’t have anough individual knuckle power to go toe to toe with anyone but if you let them know right away, mess with any of us, you mess with all and the game should proceed peacably.

If there is an ounce of pride in your bodies, do not let the phrase 0 for 7 on the power play ever be said about you again. A power play is like a gift. Try to score on one please. Let the words urgency and tenacity be your guide. (Peter, please shoot the puck, you pass like a dream but doode! please shoot the puck on the power play kthnxbai)

Just do what you do best, pack mentality! Score by committee and don’t let Brodeur’s press scare you. Everyone can be had on any given day.

Puck drops at 7pm, doors open at 6pm. Hope to see you all there. If you still need tickets, its too late to do the CircleK/Pepsi thing (24hrs advance is required) but not to late to take advantage of the Ambassador Club discount.

As always… GO COYOTES!

Good news: Upshall has been activated! TheGr8t Scott has been deemed fit for duty and will hit the ice tonight. We missed him alot, thankfully the kidney shots that creep Holmstrom gave him didn’t do any permanent damage. (Where’s his friggin suspension? Scottie was IR’d and facing urine checks for a couple weeks from that cheap shot)

Bad news: JovoCop has been deactivated. Mr. Jovonasty has been suspended for 2 games and fined more money than I have even seen in my lifetime for his elbow on Tavares. It is sad that Jovo is now considered a repeat offender and people like Burrows (deliberate slash to the knee of Vrbata) don’t even rate a looksee*EDIT(oops ROFL, I stand corrected, apparently SOMEBODY sees thru AlexB). Don’t even start with me about the elbow. He did it and although I’m still sure the big guy wasn’t out to cripple the kid, it appears pretty damn intentional. We can play without him but our guys better have eyes in the backs of their helmets without that big deterrent on the ice.

Sad news: Porter and Hoggan are back to San Antonio. We hate to see them leave but consolation is, everytime they come back they look better and better. Its good to know that our future roster players are almost ready for prime time.

Cool news: We have a new featured blogger. In honor of our Pacific Division chase its Sharks afficianados; Dudes on Hockey! These guys are informative and often edgy (just the way we like our blogs) So be sure to go check them out for your San Jose Sharks news, notes and insight.

So it is time once again to face the fish people. This is the 5th of 6 and we’ve gotten a point off these boys every time we’ve played but this time we really need to get both points. This is the time of the year where cushions start disappearing. 3rd one day and 9th the next is not that rare of an occurrence in the Western Conference and the Pacific Division is one of the toughest in the league.

Keys to the game?

Play THE system! Tippett has the knowledge to get us to the post season. He can lead us to water but he can’t make us drink. The boys have to listen and follow the plan. Shark’s Captain Rob Blake describes our system pretty well in the local news. “Phoenix, is a team that tries to frustrate you,” Blake said. “They play well. They’re pretty patient throughout the neutral zone, and they want you to be frustrated and either take penalties or create turnovers.”  It has worked very well… no deviations tonight guys.

Goaltending better be straightened out. As the Olympic break gets closer, Breezer has to be getting a little distracted no matter how hard he tries not to. Even though his last start wasn’t pretty, we can probably all agree that it wasn’t his fault. (We pretty much sucked the first 2 periods and the extended man down scenario didn’t help either) Hopefully, facing Nabby (Breezy’s best competition for the Olympic starter spot) should focus the big guy on this game.

Offensive touch is on the verge of breaking out! (No, really. We proved we can do more than 2 goals a game and its time to show off our new skill again tonight) Getting Upshall back gets the Korpedo off the main line which should be good for a few extra chances at beating that crazy alien Nabokov.

Enough with the goals against! Play friggin defense. Forwards need to forecheck like their lives depend on it. We’re down a big part of our blueline without Jovo. The dmen are gonna need every advantage they can get. Do NOT give that Marleau line any leverage. And for gods sake NO POWER PLAYS if at all avoidable.

Its our barn, we’re your peeps, play for us! We’ll give you back double what you give out.

************In other news************

The Ambassador’s Club met on Saturday for the second time. AJ is in the lead with like 50 purchases through the program. There were a bunch of us tied with 4 or more purchases. We’re doing good guerilla marketing for the boys. Giving out the cards, posting the links and just basically trying to talk butts into the seats by any means possible. Thank you to everyone who has purchased tickets so far. The promotion will be ending soon (I’ll get the exact date so you guys don’t miss the opportunity) remember its not just for the game of the day, you can buy the discounted tickets for packages and for games all the way through April. (Including The Ded games, Shane’s Bobblehead night, we win you win nights too.) Also don’t sleep on the CircleK/Pepsi deal. The cheap soda prices ends Jan 31st but the choice of games ends before that. Grab your 10bucks and go buy the 4 (8) pks, take your receipt AND the voucher from the display to the Jobarena and score 2 lower bowl (80 & 100 buck seats!)

Doug Moss did a mini Q & A for us. The team is talking about snowbird packages with WestJet and a hotel in the Biltmore area to package with Yotes tickets for our Northern friends to get out of the cold, see great hockey and enjoy our great city. Talk about a great shuttle idea vacation package. The Yotes have bid on the ASG week for 2011/2012/2013. Don’t count on 2011 even though we’ve heard from Bill Daly’s lips that we’re in the running. (the BK and ownership stuff just won’t get settled in time most likely to make us a serious choice) BUT, we’re most likely going to get the nod for one of the other 2 bids. We were also updated about our beloved #44. Sweets has been out all season and is still having issues. There is a slim possibility that we might not get him back at all for this season which just blows. The old  injury continues to plague him, affecting his skating, balance and the odd headache. We hope he continues to progress and makes it back to the roster after the Olympic break.

Haterz are really silly people. They don’t listen and they sure make up some really crappy stuff to natter on about. The NHL has said repeatedly that it may take as long as the end of the season to get our ownership deal done. Yet some dorks (mostly AZCentral POS commenters so I guess any credibility goes down the tubes straight off the bat) continue to cling to January 15th as some doomsday decision making date that will knock Ice Edge out of the buyers process… and they are gloating about it. Sheesh! Get a different hobby haters. But my favorite thing so far is the conspiracy stuff. They apparently don’t watch our games, don’t see the crap we take from the refs. Now they are all about the NHL trying to give us preferential treatment to get into the post season. ROFLMBFAO, don’t bother getting a hobby haterz, get a life instead, you guys have waaay too much time on your hands and not enough working brain cells.

So, puck drops at 7pm, doors open at 6pm. Hope to see you all there!

As always… GO COYOTES!

Can you say holy shitezky Desert Faithful? Everybody screwed up something last night… except Winnie and Bizzy. It was a night of inane errors and working harder but definitely not smarter. I might as well start with the weirdest feature of this black comedy of errors. Yotes 4, Islanders 5 SO loss, ptooey!

I sincerely wanted to strangle the refs most of the night but it wasn’t exactly ALL the boys in stripes fault. Oh my bleeding eyes Mr. Tippett. Did you really decide NOT to put a man in the box? I know most coaches don’t but doode! this is the Phoenix Coyotes, if it weren’t for bad luck, we’d have no luck at all some nights. NEVER take any chances with fate. In case you all missed it, our coach finally showed that he is not perfect. When Jovo was called for the 5 minute major and subsequent game misconduct, Tip decided not to put a player in the sin bin for the 5 minutes. In his defense, rarely is there not some type of stoppage of play in that time span. Well, the wiley veteran, Rolie the goalie made the most of that miscalculation by keeping the puck in play despite our numerous attempts to at least get an icing for stoppage. Roloson said “I heard the crowd cheer so I knew the (penalty) was up, but I knew the longer I could keep it going, the more chances we had. It was a chance that they took.” (Thanks Rolie… damn, I hate smart goalies.) We played for around 10 minutes short handed. (Ughh… Hanzal finally just slashed some idiot Isles guy to stop the madness) if not for that, we mighta played the entire 2nd period on the shorts. So we were short again and then the capper… Aucoin was called for a penalty too. The Islanders took advantage of the whole debacle with 2 goals.

Shane Doan rallied his troops and apparently showed them his angry face. In the 2nd intermission the Captain gave a rousing speech, raised the battle flag and led the guys out for the period of the season so far.

Paul ‘Biznasty’ Bissonette – took the Captain’s call to arms to heart. His main talent wasn’t needed so Bizzy found another way to help his mates. He scored. It was an ugly goal but it was a turning point to the game. He gave the boys a jump start by grabbing that first rung of the comeback ladder. Kudos to you big guy!

Daniel ‘the Tazmanian Devil’ Winnick – it wasn’t the first time that don’t-call-me-Pooh has done this to a team but it might be the most crucial and exciting time. It felt like 10 minutes as Danny circled around in the Isle’s endzone. By the end, Big Bad Dan had nearly the entire Isle’s line chasing him. Even our guys seemed in awe as they hung back thinking the puck would be stolen and outletted. You really are Dan THE Man.

Can anyone name the date… and the year we last scored 3PP goals in 1 game? Well save this date because that is exactly what we did. Biz started us off and Pyatt and Mueller each saw his goal and raised him one. All in less than a 4 minute span. (It cost Lang a few ounces of blood from a high stick but I think he’d almost agree it was worth it) According to those sitting much closer than me, the faceoff after the highstick was delayed while Langer contained the mouth full of blood long enough to get the shift started. A doff of the hat to Peter Mueller for his second goal of the season, it was pretty and timely and much appreciated.

Jason Labarbera stepped into the net and played his ass off. He stopped the Isles in their offensive tracks. They couldn’t score again until the shootout. I really thought he’d pull the guy’s buns out of the fire but alas his mojo wore off and he got bit by a couple that he woulda normally stopped. S’okay AZBarbie, you were a rock for that comeback tour de force and we did grab a point.

We all wait with bated breath to see if Mr. JovoNasty will be suspended for the hit on the next, next one, John Tavares. The crease is always going to hold an element of danger and feces happen in there. Jovo has been playing hard but not dirty (he’s an unstoppable force when he plays like that and he’s definitely a danger to the opposition everynight) Desert Warfare Jovo doesn’t try to hurt people on purpose so I hope he doesn’t pay the full price for this hit. Yes there was an elbow. Was it an intentional attempt to injure? I don’t think so. But we shall see how this plays out. We have already proven we can survive without him but life sure is easier with him patroling the back end.

Our status didn’t change a whole lot (still 4th and 6th .. kinda) but some other folks caught up to us (tied w/ CAL @57 points each) and some other folks are in striking distance if we don’t get our groove back. (VAN,COL,NSH breathin down our necks w/ 56/55 points) Tippett hockey and continuing where we left off last game will be the only thing that can stave off the slavering hoards that want our spot.

We play our uber nemesis, the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night. We sit #2 behind these guys in the Pacific. They are a little out of reach at the moment (we all know how that can change in the blink of 2-3 games). These are huge points (aren’t they all in the 2nd half?) and taking 2 points here, closes the gap between us and the Fish. Even more importantly, those points put distance between us and the suddenly hot squads rising beneath us.

Get your tickets for the game early, we’re starting to be the hot ticket in town right behind the butt kicking Cardinals who managed to have the highest scoring playoff game in NFL history on Sunday night. Go Cards Go! The game on 1/16 is not only Shane Doan Bobblehead night, its a we win, you win night! The seats are almost gone so grab them quick. The Ambassador’s Club promo will be gone soon as will the Circle K Pepsi deal. Both are still available for the games in January so I’d hit them up now in order to reserve your place.

As always… GO COYOTES!