Ouch! Despite a milestone being crossed we end up on the losing end of the night. Those who weren’t in attendance really missed out on a good game (no television coverage - which is soo friggin sad - on sooo many levels).

Special teams and lack of discipline completely wrecked our night…along with a ref trying to become the ‘new’ McGeough (seeing things that were’nt there and generally reffing like he was born and raised in Texas).

Dallas drew first blood (not an unusual state of affairs). TBA didn’t have a chance when Zubie’s wrister richocheted off a Yotes forward’s skate. But the 199lb gorilla that had been hitching a ride on Shane Doan’s back finally jumped off on a wonderful deflection of a Jovo wrist rocket. The Captain puts away his milestone 200th goal! tying the game 1 - 1.

Carcillo completely lost his lil rookie mind last night, incurring not 1 but 2 ULCs. Although I am still not sure what the first one is all about (some reports have it as diving, which it certainly wasn’t, some reports have it as really bad language due to the refs not calling Modano for the blatant, retarded tripping) either way Carcillo goes to the box giving Dallas back the lead when they wobble a sleeper past a downed TBA. Carci would receive the second ULC a few minutes later for running his mouth for real… LET THE CAPTAINS HANDLE IT boy!

The PK looked like doody when they allowed Madano to score in the first 20 seconds of the PP. (we missed #20 starting the PK for us right there and a #2/#4 combo would not have been amiss either). Now its 3 - 1 Stars and we have to get creative (with the monkey off his back Donor gets movin into the Stars zone trailed by the ‘needin a real goal his ownself’ Vbrat) Doan gets stripped, Vbrat steals the puck from that lil stripper Jokinen and goes in hard and heavy against Mike Smith, scoring a monster goal. LOVED the celebration! You think Doan was happy with his? shoulda seen the look on Vbrats face as he thanked the hockey gods!

Doin good to get back witin one goal but disaster struck when a loose puck was snagged by Hagman who gets a couple strides on Jovo (who ain’t the fastest thing I’ve ever seen on skates) and snaps one home on TBA. 4 - 2 Stars (I don’t think the loose puck was JV’s fault)… I could be wrong but JV was playin like a man on a mission all night. This was the first game the big man played like the 6 million dollar difference maker he can be. Jovo had 3 big hits, 3 sogs, 2 assists, a slidin block attempt and some beautiful offensive jumps. Can’t wait for the goal monkey to get off his back too.

During the next delayed Yote penalty, our intrepid PKers have a mental breakdown leaving the lil ratboy Ribero alone w/ TBA in front of the net. You can paint that 6 second lapse for yourselves as the Stars did by putting the nail in our coffin 5 - 2 Stars.

But we were’nt done yet as the boys battled hard and came up with a Rhino to Carcillo tally to take us closer. 5 -3 Stars. Nothing we could do would make a dent in that lead, including pulling TBA for the extra attacker.

Great game in spite of the obvious ref stupidity, Carcillo’s mouth and the missing man formation caused by no Sjostrom again. TQ and Jonesy had the worst of the night w/ +/- values at -2, our face offs were just over the 50% mark on the whole (Ziggy, Donor kept up their FO end but Rhino had a bad night in the circles), penalties hurt us the most and Carcillo (who has been astonishingly disciplined but got called on it by WG according to Daniel during the post game radio stint) is still a work-in-progress on that front. Z is back! (yeah I know I already covered that last game but dayam did we miss that boy so I am sayin it again)

Big shout out to the nicest 2 redwings fans I have met so far (visiting for business and full of praise for the JOB and the Yotes in general) and to Cindy and her friend ( oh godesses her name just slipped out of my sieve brain) for bein as insane as me about their beloved Desert Dawgs.

~photos from Norm Hall/Coyotes~ more to come from BleedinTealinAZ so check back for link

EDIT: photos from BTinAZ are up - http://www.flickr.com/photos/9302501@N02/sets/72157602774269474/

yummm, yummm one of my favorite meals was served at Honda center. Duck soup. The Yotes made a meal of the former champions. The ’souperb’ meal was served piping hot by our emerging #1 goalie, TBA, on a shut out plate.

TBA! Auldie had a spectacular game. He’s tall, he’s bald, he’s Alex Auld! (I still like that, hence the nickname TBA) While he could still get better rebound control, TBA certainly played well on all fronts (and sides… 31 saves for the kid on the night). The defense made certain to fall on any wild rebounds that got away from TBA (looked a lot like GIs falling on live grenades to protect their buddies).

We have to forgive Z for putting us down by two with that ugly little cross check he gave the presumptuous Ducks (they tend to lay on your goalie and give cheap elbows in the guise of getting up). The PK ROCKED! with 2 of our finest PKers in the box it was nothing short of valiant to survive a 3 on 5 and then a 4 on 5 to keep the Ducks from getting a point.

Weller got his first ever NHL goal. It was a thing of beauty too (Kapi carried the puck in and dished the perfect pass to the hyper aware Weller). Nice wrister from the face off circle ( bounced off Bryz and the pole aaand the crossbar) in the second period that gave us a 1 point lead that we never let slip.

The most of the rest of the game was dominated by our strong puck possession and our discipline. (Brad May even tried to get Hanzal riled up during a scrum) and lord knows they did their best to get Carcillo’s motor revving (the kid kept his temper in check in spite of their best efforts).

The pure defensive value of Z shined through our first PK of the 3rd when Bally got called for roughing. We were tight and barely allowed the Ducks to cycle and not allowing even 1 sog before clearing the puck.

The 3rd period looked better for the Ducks with chances by Kunitz crossbarred and a late Yote penalty by Kapi let the Ducks get some flurries. TBA held them off and we got the shut out!

Even with good net work the Ducks are having a great deal of trouble without their pseudo retired superstars. We took advantage of those holes.

York needs a trip to the press box, not Freddie. Lord knows I hate having to sit anyone anymore cause these guys all play hard… but Freddie has serious points and is a fantastic PK & shutdown guy… Yorkie? not so much.

Gratton is coming home soon. What does that mean for us? I really like Weller (whom it appears has had his spot because Grats has been injured and then rehabbing). Weller is learning so quickly, is a big body that will stand in front of the opposition’s goalie, score a few points, has chemistry with the other BigKids and isn’t afraid to drop the gloves can’t be undervalued.

Anyway…it was a fantastic night to be a Yote fan. I spent the game time at Buffalo Wild Wings w/ fellow fans, CoyoteLove, ShootthePuckCoyotes and White Tiger, the Other Mrs. Michalek and Shawn aka Winnie the Pooh. Good food, good friends and good game…. good night.

~phots by HARRY How/Ducks ~

http://coyotes.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=Recap&seas=20072008>ype=2&gnum=138

Well…. WOW! The waiting is over, no more 3 headed net monster. David Aebischer has been placed on waivers.

~photo from Emmanuel Lozano/The Arizona Republic~

No official word from the front office at this time but after seeing all the rumors (from Eklund to TSN.ca) I wrote to Mossie for confirmation and got 2 small lines… of confirmation simply stating Abby has been waived. Now what that means. Well a) he clears and is let go b) he clears and is kept up w/ the big club to be used in a trade down the road c) he clears and most likely displaces Lenny in SA d) he gets snapped up by whomever was courting him when we first aquired him. Lots of talk from the fans in the goalie black hole known as LA. They have the singular honor of cursing more than their fair share of goalies to the injury pit. We just doomed goalies to failure and obscurity, last year more goalies ended up sidelined due to injury there, seemed like nearly every month of the friggin season a goalie went down in LA. I have to wonder if Abby, tired of being the odd man (only 1 start so far in 7 games) asked to be waived? just a thought…

With the nearly miraculous recovery of Zbynek Michalek (out with broken hand b4 season start) and the return of Josh ‘bambam’ Gratton from his conditioning stint there is no more room at the inn. So FreddyIV was also waived and is reporting to SA Rampage. I guess this means the BigKids line gets to keep Weller. YEA! Grats comes back and takes the heat off of Carcillo (the refs will have to split their attention and worry about BamBam and won’t be able to focus so much on Carci) and Weller gets to stay and polish up his crease camping (seriously, this kid has the size and guts to be a poor man’s Holmstrom).

So the other shoe has finally dropped and it is probably for the good. Now maybe Jovo can stop playing with the puck (Z usually brings it up ice or makes that first pass w/ out it goin straight to the opposition) and just maybe we will finally get to see JV’s point production rise as he stops worrying about his back end being covered (he knows he can’t cover his own faux pas well) and Bally can go back to playin on line with Boynton and doin his aggressive/assertive numbers. With Jonesy and DMo creating their own little chemistry our blueline might actually look as good on the ice as it often does on paper.

We all know going to a game vs DET is like pulling your own toenails out. But in my section they were relatively well behaved. Drunken? yes. But well mannered for once. This one is sleeping on my shoulder.

Now the outside patio? Whooole nother story. But for once they were met w/ equal aggession and outshouted (din’t come to blows but there is one very feisty 60+ yr old lady Yote that I would NOT like to meet in an alley! out there) and she was givin the DED fans hell.

The first period we gave up first blood. Kronwall actually is preventing Telly from getting to the puck and is laying on Telly’s arm in the crease when the shot crosses the line. True goalie interference. The second (disallowed goal) is disallowed strictly because Telly points up the refs for not calling the first interference. Holmie didn’t bump Telly nor was he in the blue when the puck crossed in. (Hate him though I do, Holmstrom is the King of the Screen)

Oh yeah… for all of us who wondered…Boynk did deserve his first penalty…Bleedin Teal in AZ caught it on film…

Rhino answers on a really nice play. Mules strips Datsuk of his puck, while Doan distracts Lidstrom, Rhino hauls ass down to Hasek and  does the fancy. What a beauty! Great pass from Mules, great vision and decisions from both Mules and Rhino… wtg vetrans!

Loved Bally’s acting job on Holmstrom. There was a mild elbow but Bally’s embellishment makes Holmie head to the sin bin,  giving us an opportunity.

The Big Kids were w/ out Wellie (preparation to see what to do when Grats comes back?) but Yorkie fills in for them admirably. Dwin and Hanzal seem to be thriving down low doin the really dirty work, Yorkie screens Hasek ala Holmstrom (its almost identical to the disallowed goal) as the Demolition Man rips a leg breaker from the point (Draper only had to get hit once to know better than to get in front of another one). Demo w/ that bomb puts us up 2 to 1 on the Ded Things! Hanzal was awesome against Zets during his break out w/ Dats and he and Dwin have some excellent chemistry with a combo on Hasek that almost put us up by 2.

We continue to battle and Telly is doing more than any one guy should have to in order to keep us in it. The second Ded goal is a pisser (Kapi gets his stick slashed so hard it breaks… many folks say the refs went easy on us but they missed that one on the Things) and Kapi is unable to block Chelios’ slapper w/out his stick and Maltby pulls off an incredible redirect thru his legs, Jovo actually had proper positioning on him but sometimes lucky is better than good and the Ded’s tie it up.

Once the tie up is accomplished the Ded turn on the afterburners (physicality and speed) and we lose the momentum and the confidence that permeated the earlier minutes. Less than 30 seconds left in the second, Maltby lets fly a telegraphed slap shot but it doesn’t go blocker side (totally unexpected glove side high hole threader) Telly’s heart is broken (he sits on the ice totally depressed for a few seconds). The period ends in dejection.

The Ded smell blood in the third and come out like hell let loose on holiday. 5 minutes in, when Telly misplays a puck behind his net (no communication! Telly leaves the puck for Jovo, why he went back there in the first place I can’t figure out, but why JV didn’t yell man on! and then JV fans on it and lets Ellis pass it right out for an empty net goal) our backs get broken and the game is basically over except for the minutes left on the clock. 4 - 2 we continue to battle but the Ded are on a roll and get one more before the final whistle (JV doesn’t trust Hanzal to do his job and goes over to help, Jones moves over to cover JV’s spot and Zets has free reign to blast Telly) . 5 - 2 final, Red Wings.

My first thought…damn! we actually had the lead on the Ded! WOW!  at home even.

Second thought… thank goodness Rhino finally got one (please let Donor get his soon)

other thoughts… 

•  damn! that Hanzal is really turnin out well
• I still love what Kapi brings to this team (he got beat the hell up all night but still battled)
• Dwin is a concussion waiting to happen if he doesn’t learn to keep his head up
• poor Telly, (he’s gonna replay that one bad turn all night in spite of all the things he did well)
• maybe I should have been more specific about Jovo (he’s better than his last season performance … the first 4 minutes of the third he’s damn near awesome, but dayam, better is relative isn’t? Can’t WAIT for Z to get back and cover the big man’s butt so he can start scoring instead of puck handling)
• What the hell is up with Keith Ballard?

Last thought…we didn’t get slaughtered like last season, we were in it and workin for much longer than I dreamed possible. 

See the rest of BleedinTealinAZ pictures -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9302501@N02/sets/72157602598653327/

Dwayne Roloson played like someone set fire to his pads. That guy was damn near unbeatable. When you watch 10 different Yotes put shot after shot after shot (what had to be one the best PP efforts I have ever seen from the Yotes) on a stickless, on his back, on his butt, on his head Rollie and not score, well ya gotta give the man his props.

First off - props to the big PM (Mules scored his first ever NHL goal last night) tremendous effort going after a rebound. His skating was better and although he ended up on the negative end of the +/- scale he wasn’t a total git defensively as he has been in the past. He was faster and looked much more ‘aware’ than his previous outings.

Secondary props to Ziggy for his first of the season on a very pretty back hand, in close, top shelf. Looks like TQ or Vbrat may have to look into some press box real estate next game unless York mucks up practice again. It won’t be Ziggy who was also at 50% on his face offs and mean machine on the PK.

Major props to both Carci and Boynk for not just completely losin it and giving Stortini the ass whuppin he so richly (and repeatedly)  earned. The guy was a complete moron all night, flappin his jaws and rattling everyone’s cage. Which segues quite nicely into our much, much improved discipline. Only giving up 2 PP chances on the night was awesome. Hemmer/Stoll and Horcoff are dangerous enuff w/ out handing them the keys to the city on a powerplay plate.

Serious ouch and offers of a bandaid (cuz I know it has to hurt) to DWin, JV and Bally who sport -3s on the night. Bally needs to go back to his old aggressive, trash talking, hit ‘em style. The ‘new’ Bally just isn’t cuttin’ it. But being paired w/ JV can put anyone off his game. Even though JV is doin better than last season, he is still a very high maintenence partner in every situation. It’s gotta be tough to play your game and watch his back all the time too. Please hockey gods, let JV find his freakin shot! Even w/ the minor improvements in his game like better pinching, better PP quartebacking and a little bit faster ice movement (yeah he still has horrible timing and dumps pucks right into the opponents legs) without that shot, JV is an overpaid door stop right now.

Derek Morris! Is finaally being the Demolition man I have been waiting for. I rode DMo harder than anyone last season (I could see so damn much potential just wasting away, it killed me) this season he is everything I saw lurking and more. Keep it comin big guy.

WTG! to the BigKid’s line even though they were split up a lil bit more tonight, Hanzal laid Stoll out in a really nice open ice crunch. The kid is definitely getting more comfortable out there and even though he didn’t grace the score board he was workin well in other places. Weller though needs to keep crease campin. Wellie is a lot of body and has been a great screen in the last few games although we didn’t see it last night.

Oh Doaner…don’t get discouraged. I can see your play deteriorating back into the October doldrums. Kick it back up Captain Coyote. We desperately need your December game out there right now.

TBA kept us close. We just didn’t havve the finishing power. Yeah, admit it. Only one of those goals was soft. One was an empty netter and one was a crap of a bounce off his leg pad. He wasn’t too bad for the night considering he was facing Horcoff/Hemsky and Stoll on a mission to get out of the cellar.

Bottom line seems to be we are workin harder and now need to learn how to work smarter. With 40+ sogs, only 2 PKs and some decent (although not world tilting) netminding, we need our vets to get their minds off the youngster sitting (those kids are holding their own) and onto scoring their own damn selves. Rhino, Doan and Jovo need to get on the damn scoreboard and soon. The kids are doin their parts, time for the leaders to do theirs and maybe, just maybe, we’ll see some close wins instead of these close but no cigar games.

I love my Yotes! Come on out people, its definitely worth the price of admission. For less than the cost of a movie you can get 3 hours of fairily good entertainment.

Hmmm it has been a quiet couple of days since the last game. No big news goin on.

Our latest addition to the blue line (Freddy IV) flew home to await the delivery of his baby. Possibly another blueliner in the making named…. what else? Freddy V (feel free to insert Short Circuit comments of all kinds). Will he be back in time for Thursday’s game? I dunno. But that news segues nicely into the fact that Z skated yesterday with a puck for the first time since breaking his hand. Sounds like the intrepid Czech will be back sooner than expected. Thank goodness, we miss him terribly.

Not sure if I mentioned Grats is on conditioning assignment to the Rampage this week. Not sure how long that will last. We miss him too of course but not as badly as one would think. Carci and Boynk do quite well defending those who can’t defend themselves. Weller (who most figured was just a placeholder for Grats) is doing really solid work on the BIgKid’s line and is learning to provide that crease/screen presence that we so desperately need.

Read a pretty good web article about meshing the home and minor team philosophy. The Ded Things have been doing it consistently and well for a number of years now. Their system produces Wing ready players on a regular basis. With players getting early training in how the big club works is it any wonder they have fewer high impact busts than most teams? I think this has been a major sore point for us in the past. We call up a player and they struggle to learn the system and rarely obtain enuff proficiency to stick in the majors. Now with Treliving and Ireland in charge I think we will see a much different result from our callups. They have bought into the Gretzky system and the Rampagers will have a much better chance of succeeding when the opportunity arises.

We are finally getting some grudging respect from the outside world! Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said the Coyotes are “playing the old way the game was in the early ’90s. They put a lot of heat on you, and they’re coming all the time,” he said. “It’s highly exciting. Gretz has taken some risks to play this way, and it looks like so far his team has really embraced the style.”  Oh yeah! old style hockey!

The big PM got to see what his team is doing right/wrong from an advantage nobody relishes. Mueller watched the heartbreaking Wild game from the press box. This kid has heart. I hope he can pull a lil bit more out of his hat and make the lil rest stop his last one.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/1017coyotesnb1017.html

Damn! the rumors and armchair GMs are flyin high right now. Do these people just have no concept of much fortunes can change during an 82 game run? Jovo and Doan are being coveted around the fan bases. These folks are like starving men at a buffet. The much favored duo isn’t goin anywhere this early in the game an certainly not to any unfavorable destinations. Both players have NTC/NMC clauses and seem to be very happy right where they are. So all you fat kids put your sporks down, the cakes stay right where they are.

Player parties are back! (will have pictures of the fun later) Kapi and Sjo hung out with the fans at Peoria Hooters last night. The blonde bombshells drew a substantial crowd of mostly women fans. I was able to get Andie’s Swedish contulations poster signed for her by fast Freddie. Kapi and Freddie are definitely Euro stylin. ( I don’t think I’ve ever seen an American male roll his jeans cuffs like Kapi. ) But hey! I’ve been known to wear stripes and plaids together, what do I know about fashion? They weren’t as fun as hangin w/ DMo or Z but it was an entertaining evening none the less. I think Howler had the most fun. Dancin with the Hooter girls and running about taking many pictures w/ his fans.

Okay I am sick as hell. Goin back to bed. Don’t forget to stop by the booster club table over by section 106 on Thursday. Sign up and get all the Yotes news and events ahead of everyone else.

See you all on game day. GOOO COYOTES!!!
 

Someone once said ‘winning isn’t everything’ (they were obviously not on the back end of a loss to the Wild).

This game was winnable. We had beaten the undefeated Wild. But then we quite simply, gave it away in the third. But Man oh man was this a good performance for 50 minutes. It was that other 10 minutes that bit us in the ass.

For 50 minutes, we beat the Wild to the puck, we shelled a shaky NickB, we shut down the neutral zone like a roach motel (the Wild could come in…but they couldn’t get out… at least not with a puck) after the first goal and TBA’s net coverage was tighter than a fat lady’s girdle.

So what happened? Did we let the foot off the pedal as Panger suggests? http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=10212 or did we just fall apart as PB suggests? http://www.onefansperspective.com/  I’m leaning towards Pang’s view although both views are very valid. We took our foot off the gas as the third period dwindled down and we were still up 2 - 1.  The lack of urgency showed up in the form of penalties, increased Wild puck possession time, Wild sog totals rising and very sloppy passing and board work from us. By the time the boys realised what they had done…NickB had woken up and MK and Dimi had made us pay for the coasting. then we began to try too hard and Belanger caught TBA open. 3 - 2 Wild final

The good stuff:

Bally was back, well almost back, the aggression and fire were percolating and we saw the world famous BBB as Bally hip checked Belanger into next week.

We saw Carcillo errupt! 2 goals, both sweet as the Fox Grill’s creme brulee. We also saw a suicidal Carcillo go toe-to-toe with the Boogyman (thank the godlings that didn’t get to blows!) Much later we watched Carci get the 10 and ejection when he and Burns tussled and jawed (for about a 1/2 second I thought Carci was gonna do a drive by on that idiot of a ref). But the boy has been so disciplined and hard working for the first handful of games…we can overlook this little slip.

Doan got a boarding call? Oh yeah..he did do it and thankfully he didn’t get any more than that (the hit was reminiscent of the Duck’s convergence on Holmstrom…just not as vicious or intentional). What can I say… he really believes he was a canon ball in another life. When will the posts let the Donor alone? Another set of hot chances, foiled by the ping of the pipes.

There are days when you just have to give some serious love to Boynk. The Wild went…well wild, on Bally. Boynk took Gabby to task and managed to take the Wild sniper out of contention for the crucial last minutes of the game (loved the cocky lil buh bye wave that Boynk gives Gabby as they made their way to the sin bin). Unfortunately Bellie managed to put the last nail in our coffin instead.

Classic, textbook work in the net from TBA. A double  robbery as Auldie slid out (what looked like) nearly to center ice (that is one looong goalie) to poke check Sheppard’s break out away and again when Burn’s sure thing slap shot (with Auld sprawled out on the ice and the puck headed in at speed for the top corner) it seemed to be unstoppable  but TBA shot a big mitt up and snagged the bullet out of the air.

Freddy4 looked fantastic in the second. Stealing pucks, jumpin into the offense, clearing the boards (for a minute I thought he was turning into superman) then in the third the poor guy committed a Jovo. You know, the really, really bad pinch thing we all get our hearts broken over? It led to the PP goal that truly sunk us. But damn it! The guy is really tryin hard so I’m not gonna hash that over to harshly.

Kapi love! Oh yeah, you know I gotta rub it in. Kapanen to Carcilllooo! And whether you love the lil Finn or not, you gotta give him props for that pass to Carci.

TQ looked much better too. Good thing for Ziggy that Grats isn’t going to back too soon (Grats is destined for a reconditioning stint in the AHL) Ziggy! step it up brah!

The BigKids still have luster. Wellie seems to be getting much more comfortable in front of the opposing goalie’s crease.

Hanzal had a bit of trouble in the third with pucks rolling on end along the boards and getting stolen but nothing major mistake wise. Dwin seemed to be doin fine despite the Preds using his head for a game of pong on Thursday.

This was a heart breaker. But damned if it wasn’t some of the most exciting hockey the JOB has witnessed in waaay too long.

~photos from Norm Hall - Coyotes~

C’mon fellow Yoties. You know you want to. We play the Wild tomorrow night. It’ll be a helluva game. 

TBA should be back covering the net (he is the hot glove right now).

Watch the BigKid line tear up the ice (Wellzie didn’t get a suspension and should be ready to rock).

See Dmo and (hopefully) Jovo launch a few rockets from the point.

Doan the human cannon ball should be makin a run or two as well as Bally with the BBB.

 If we are very lucky we could see if Sjo can get on the board again tonight after his incredible hat trick night in Nashville.

Come out for the pregame warm up and throw a hat or two for Fast Freddy (since we weren’t in Nashville to do it…the least we can do is show our Swedish Flash some home town love).

If you are strapped for cash…go to ticket master… use the tape to tape password (hopefully I won’t get my hand slapped for this) powerplay…

“Visit Ticketmaster.com now to claim your 2 for 1 tickets for tomorrow’s home game against the Minnesota Wild! All fans in attendance get a Coyotes beanie hat! Supplies are limited, offer valid from 10/12 at 5pm through 10/13 at 5pm via internet, through 10pm at the box office. Valid for $55 and $28 tickets only. ”

Hope to see you all there, hats in hand.

This picture says it all I think.

The return of fast Freddie! Not only did the feisty Swede score on the PP he comes back and scores a shorty (Mason and Arnott looked stunned) and barely missed the hattie on an empty net.

In a stunning turnabout the Yotes take down the Predators 6 - 3. On the back side of a back to back set our boys show us what Maloney was talking about. I am still vibrating (and I am sure my downstairs neighbor wishes we’d lost).

Everybody battled hard. There were no slackers in this game at all. TQ sat tonight giving Sjo a chance to get his spot back. Ziggy and York better step up or the press box will feature one of them next.

Dmo had one of the best games ever. Setting the line in the sand by drawing first blood early. Color me impressed.

The BigKids were phenomenal. Went from 4th line to first as they battled, scrummed and plain old outworked every player on the ice except Auld. (I’ll get to him in a minute) Hanzal gets his 1st NHL goal!

A beautimous, patient backhand. You go boy! Weller and Dwin worked the low boards like pros. Wellzie set up shop in the crease, brought his lunch and put up the screen from hell in front of Mason… about time we got a BIG body in front of the opponent’s goalie. Led directly to the Morris shot gettin past Mason.

Tall, bald and Auld! (Gotta love our announcers). Alex Auld looked seriously good tonight. Best performance of the tripod so far. This guy covers a whole lotta net, even when he’s down. Good positioning, coulda used a little better rebound control but the D had his back for most of those.

In this corner the middle weight champion Daaaniel Caaarrcillo! Carci gave Nichols a bigtime boxing lesson. Nichols had been trying to start a fire with anyone he could, so Carci gave him somethin to think about.

Kapi continues to accumulate points. The lil Finn copped an assist tonight on DMo’s goal.

Doan was the human cannon ball tonight. When we started to lose momentum, the Captain got aggressive. Big hits and big shifts as usual.

The defense looked like a real NHL blueline tonight. Simply awesome. JV and Jonesy kept Auld’s fat out of the fire a couple of times on some really gut twisting plays and even Boynk was on and poppin.

Rhino teamed up w/ Freddie to confound poor Mason. Rhino was very crafty back behind the net (tricking Mason into covering the wrong post) then bangin away until the puck finally slipped through the crack in his armor. Finally the lil pachyderm gets his goal after so many heartbreaking chances.

Vbrat finally gets his 1st goal as a Coyote (yeah it was an empty netter but hell we been havin no luck doin that so far so it was good to see). Vbrat did some good work w/ puck movement early in the fist period too.

Let me just say the refs are complete idiots. Tootoo is an ass and a coward. The refs completely miss the shoulder to head hit Tootoo lays on Dwin (Nashville’s #5 and #7 should be ashamed of blatantly pushing an obviously shaken young Dwin back to the ice after the hit, no respect and a perfect example of total lack of class) KUDOS to Wellzie in spite of drawing the worthless match penalty. Wellzie grabs the lil dog Tootoo by the upper chest (not quite by the neck) and Toot (another word for gas) goes to the ice in a classic turtle move, drawing the ire of the refs to Wellzie. To give credit where credit is due, Bonk looked really good tonight for the Preds.

Great start, totally on the mark from first whistle to last buzzer. They done real good.

http://coyotes.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=Recap&seas=20072008>ype=2&gnum=56

~Pics by John Russell - Getty Images~

Let us be judged by our actions indeed. Tonight’s game did not bode well for Maloney’s agenda. Judging by their play tonight:

 Mueller needs more than a skating coach. Another stint in the WJC is in the big PM’s future if he can’t haul up his socks and wade in a little bit better. He did look good in the second drawing Nvotny’s penalty.

Vbrat and York don’t look like much out there for the last 3 games. York was able to produce a single point but neither looks like anything to get excited about.

Abby has all but signed his own walking papers. If Auld has a good game tomorrow night we can probably say goodbye to Abby. Lateral movement? none. Positioning? barely existent. He wasn’t shaky… just… rusty? (but honestly the first one was kinda more on the team than Abby and the second was such an unlucky bounce as to give Abby a mulligan for it). No matter how good a goalie is…if your team can’t friggin score at all, you become the goat.

Rhino, Ziggy and TQ were barely adequate. TQ got caught with his head down in the neutral (musta been a gorgeous hit…from the Jacket fans perspective). Rhino just couldn’t catch a break…so many good chances.

Even Doan is not exempt in this game. (the big captain let go of Malhortra in the high slot which led to the first goal of the night)

THE POWER PLAY broke us. When you go 0 for 8 there is something wrong (oh yeah Rosen…there is something wrong with our power play, even without a bunch of impatient fans yelling shoot!)…lack of friggin shots, lack of good cycling and lack of an agressive set on point all come to mind.

BUT… Seas an fhóid seems to be the motto of the BIGKIDs line. Stand and hold or hold fast. HANZAL is quickly becoming the premiere rookie. Hard to knock off the puck, tenacious in the slot (actually managed to get some second chances off his own rebounds) Dwin and Weller still making each other look good and every game sees them getting more comfortable with each other.

DMo looked better tonight. Made some good choices, had some nice passes and let fly some great shots.

Jovo and Boynton weren’t horrible all the time. Jovo actually had some hustle but he still makes me cringe on the pinch.

CARCILLO took on Boll  it wasn’t a straight up win but it did get the blood flowing. Can’t wait til Grats is back and the refs can’t concentrate solely on Carci. His rep has preceded him and the refs are riding the reins really hard on the lil scrapper.

Kapi barely got 12 minutes tonight. C’mon Gretzky stop the friggin juggling. The kid deserves more time than the scoreless pukes who got more time.

We were disciplined again, scarily so, only giving the Jackets 4 PP chances which thankfully the much vaunted CBJ special teams were unable to capitalise on. Our second and third periods look decent and entertaining again.

We need stability. We are holding on to our hope by an ice shaving. We need a win tomorrow night in Nashville…badly.