Ouch… just ouch… the boys are back but apparently they left their hockey on vacation for this stinker. Losing to the Blues 5 – 2 pissed Tippett off so badly that I think his presser was about 3 sentences long. Methinks the boys will be practicing long and hard tomorrow.

The first few shifts it looked like the boys were gonna be alright. But everyone was off tonight. Fiddie, Winnie, Muels and AZBarbie were pretty much the only ones who were ready from their first shifts and stayed on the ball the whole 60 minutes. The rest of the team only had moments… Joel Perrault teamed up with Mueller and they looked solid early. Joel even scored the first goal. Hanzal ran a few guys over and seemed to be intent on knocking people thru the boards. It would be downhill the rest of the night.

It was great to see Petr Prucha back on the ice, just as feisty and fast as he was before the infamous Neal hit.

Jovo got hit in the chops hard enough to knock his helmet off, he left the game and didn’t return. The refs of course missed this as well as several really ugly incidents. Fraser… please either stop channeling Magoo or retire to your porch and regale family about the time when you were a ‘good’ NHL referee.

Bryz! Get that screwed up Russian coach outta yer head! Regardless of how badly team Russia got spanked, it was sooo not your fault. You are back home with your NHL family and WE love you. I totally don’t get why Tip started Bryzzie tonight… the Blues should have been AZBarbie’s game, giving Bryz an extra couple of rest days. Much better to let Bryz get back his desert legs and go up against the Avalanche instead. Och, too late now I suppose but our Breezy needs to get back into Coyotes space quick.

5 unproductive power plays… left me wishing once again that we could decline those bad boys. Not that it would have made a difference against a Blues team on a mission. We were flat and busy doing a lot of things… just not the right things. The boys seemed to be looking around to see if everyone was still on the team. GMDM should just make his deals early and let the boys take a deep breath of relief and get their minds back on hockey. Trade deadline has to be very rough on their psychies.

Before everyone starts running out on their ledges, don’t panic. Lets see what the rest of this homestand looks like before we start with the meltdown crap. GMDM, this would be a perfect time for even a minor move. We all saw what kind of energy a team can get from a new face or two last year.

With Eriksson possibly on waivers, it feels like Don is about ready to make at least one move. So far most of the rumors are still swirling around Peter Mueller (he has been linked to trade talks about Cogliano:EDM and the Av’s Wolski) why the Avs would even entertain the thought of sending Wolski our way, I have no clue…unless the rumors about coaching issues are true? If Wolski doesn’t fit your system Yetis… we’ll gladly take him off your hands.

Hat Trick Hound will be monitoring the webosphere and will post up any moves our intrepid GM makes tomorrow. 3PM can’t come soon enough if you ask me… trade deadline sucks. But one thing is for certain, we need the energy that change will bring, we need an upgrade at defense, our PP needs an injection of urgency and a guy who understands the need for low slot work and we need to get this over with so that the boys aren’t in a constant state of anxiety about who is getting the plane ticket.

As always… Go Coyotes!

Congratulations to The US Men’s hockey team for their heroic performance in the 2010 Olympics! You did us proud guys! (P.S. the silver is prettier anyway) It sure was nice hearing the complimentry things being said by the commentators during the games and the local media may finally be on the band wagon too if the local NBC sport’s mentions are anything to go by. (I have even been listening to sports radio in the mornings because there has actually been hockey talk on!)

There hasn’t been as much movement of players at the trade deadline as we all probably imagined. Its a seller’s market and the prices must be pretty steep. GMDM has reminded us all about his value policy in today’s AZCentral column. So be patient, The Don is pretty damn good at hose tradin, if there is a deal that fits us, he’ll make it. If not, we’ll be workin hard like usual to make the post season but either way, we’ll get ‘er done. Have faith!

So the boys are back in town and ready to rumble. Sami Lepisto is the only one of our Olympians to bring back any hardware (Congrats to Sami for his bronze medal with Team Finland!) Lots of new items on the Coyotes web page, Strader’s preview of the game, Doan and Nash took an F-16 ride and Yotes Quotes from Z just to name a few things.

We take on the St. Louis Blues tomorrow. It is a ’should’ win game but we can never take ANY team for granted. Every team, mathematically eliminated or not, will be turning on the afterburners. Playing spoiler is sometimes the only satisfaction to be had for teams out of the running. We’ll have to be sharp to grab as many oints as we can before we go out on the road into seriously hostile territory.

The series stands at 2 -1 in favor of the Yotes. Can the student surpass the master? Bryzzie needs another victory to tie goalie coach Sean Burke’s 33 wins in one season. I know he can do it and I’m sure Burkie will be proud to have a hand in helping Bryz make franchise history.

The keys to this game?

Be very very stingy. We are a team built on defense. We’ve gotten burned in OT by these guys before. Watch the red hot TJ Oshie and that sneaky Johnson kid. The Blues have some key players out but that doesn’t mean we can coast. The back end better be solid tonight, there will be a lot of eyes watching to see if our blueline really is ALL that. With Z, Sami and Bryz coming off a tough 2 weeks in Vancouver (as well as a lot of travel) some other folks are going to have to be ready to step up big if the minutes have to be redistributed.

I am not going to preach about special teams. Our PP is what it is (29th in the league). We can’t depend on winning this one on the back of a PP performance. If we play disciplined hockey, we won’t have to do much short handed defending. We’ll have to stay out of the box and score 5 on 5 to get this one in the bag… as usual.

Offense!? Where forth art thou offense? IDK where its been the last few games before the break but lets hope it shows up for this one. Bruises are healed, nagging injuries should be a distant memory, it is time to put some points on the board. The scoring committee needs to wake up, stand up and be counted on. No excuses, the dirty areas need to be breached and 2nd and 3rd chances must be buried.

Chris Mason was hot right before the break but the layoff may have taken his edge off. We need to rattle him early and not let him get his confidence up. Lots of rubber, make him move… a lot! Backes and Johnson came home from the Olympics with a silver medal and a boatload of confidence… seriously… watch out for them.

Congratulations to all the winners of the Coyotes Coalition tickets! See you all in section 104 to celebrate the return of Phoenix Coyotes Hockey!

As usual… Go Coyotes!

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!

Ouchie! Not ony did we have to sit amonst the Ded all night and listen to their crap, The Great Scott got hurt.

The loss didn’t do a damn thing to us in the standings. We’re still #4 and #6 in conference and in the league respectively (CLG & NSH have crept within striking distance in the conference at 53 points to our 54).

Losing the red hot Scottie Upshall may sting more than the loss though. Little #8 has been energizing the top line and taking advantage of Lombardi’s passing acumen like never before. Uppy is our leading goal scorer with 14 markers and 3rd on the team in points. He left the game at the end of the 2nd after trying to kill some Ded doode… looked extemely pissed about whatev that guy did to him and did not return to the game. Rumor has it that Scottie was taken to hospital. The team says Uppy was hit by a puck and suffered an undisclosed lower body injury. Keep all appendages crossed that our boy will be okay soon.

You already know how much I hate Holmie. He is the very best at what he does. When he retires he can make a mint out of teaching crease camping. He gave Z fits all night and Bryz is probably still having nightmares about his butt crack in the face performance all night. Without Holmstrom, this night doesn’t happen.

Things we didn’t do…

We didnt keep the neutral zone controlled. I know the Wings are a hard team to police but we were simply not ourselves last night. The neutral zone was more like a set of swinging doors as the forwards did not harry and molest anyone through it. (we had a few flashes but no serious forechecking, backchecking or just Czeching at all). The only way to stop Holmie from setting up camp is to prevent the Ded from getting the puck to Datsyuk over your line. (once Dats has it, Holmie heads straight for your goalie and its just a matter of time b4 bad things happen). We saw it over and over again. Without Zetterbergh, Detroit relies heavily on that big butt screening and tipping shots. They do it because it works people.

We didn’t hit everyone who had the puck. Another way to keep them out of our zone would be to crank up the physical. Every time something Ded touched a puck, they needed to pay the price for it. Jovo and Doan tried but it felt like every hard hit was punished by the refs. When was the last time Doaner got multiple penalties in a game? We got tentative after being unduly punished for daring to hit these guys.

Again with the failure to set the rhthym of the game. After the 2nd goal we seemed to flounder (last second goals take the wind right outta ya dontchaknow). We shoulda came back harder in the 3rd and just let the refs call whatever they liked (they were doin it anyway). Instead it almost seemed like we were playing to tie. I hate that.

Robert Lang… you could get sooo many more chances if you kept moving (ask Mueller, who has done very very well 4 assists in 5 games) you’ve looked your age and then some out there lately. Whats wrong babe? I miss the other Langer and so do the boys.

What we did well…

Raining rubber. 35 sogs isn’t too bad on the night. Some of them real quality hummers. AND we actually scored on a 5 on 3!

We did okay on getting scrums in front of the red hot Jimmy Howard too. On another night some of those 2nd and 3rd chances go in. Last night … not so much.

Attendance of 17,125. Nice crowd even when you throw in the additional Wingdings it was still great. Hey! their money pays just as many bills. I actually had 2 intelligent ones in front of me and I asked how many times they hit the Jobarena this season. One said only last night! So I whipped out my Ambassadors card and told them if they didn’t come to non Ded games, there might not be a team soon and they would miss any future Ded games. They both took my cards and promised to be back. They were really impressed with the seats in 104 and the quality of the arena in general. Go us!

Its only one loss folks, don’t get yer panniesinawad. You know Tippett doesn’t do more than 2 losses in a row. He’ll get the boys back on track and back to finding ways to win games. Its funny how quickly we get used to winning. We have E.X.P.E.C.T.A.T.I.O.N.S! now. Wow, didn’t know I could spell that much less have that. Every time our boys hit the ice we feel anticipation and happiness. It feels damn good too, so don’t let this loss ruin that for you.

So when peeps start in with the ’see! they’re losing after the 1st half’ stuff,  just smile and say, wait n see suckers, wait n see. Because this is the year of the Yoties baby! We’ve paid our dues and we’re ready to howl in the streets. Keep the faith.

As always… GO COYOTES!

It’s Ded Things time and we get to play host. Now I usually don’t advocate inviting dangerous wild life into your barn but today I say get out the cages and whips n chains and let’s do this. There is so much talk about the fact that we’d be in 4th place if the playoffs began today… well they don’t. There’s a LOT of hockey comin down the pike, lets get some more wins under our belt before we start truly eyeing a playoff berth.

The Red Wings have already shown us that injuries don’t mean squat to them (the unusual suspects have stepped up and bitten the last few teams that underestimated them) proving that even when wounded they can leave you on the ice, defeated and wondering…wha happen’d? We can’t look past them simply because we have beaten them a couple of times. (Weirdly enough, this season we have each beaten the other 3 – 2) We need to beat conference contenders, point blank and simple. Any points we give them makes it tougher to get a cushion against the lean times when we can’t buy a goal. Its nice to be 6th in the NHL but it also means more teams have you in their sights and come gunning for you every game.

Keys to this game?

Energy! Do NOT get sucked into the other team’s rthym like last game against the Sharks! Come out on a mission and go full throttle for 60 minutes. No excuses, no mercy.

Do NOT give them any advantage. Zetterbergh may not be in the line up but Datsyuk will definitely hurt you every chance he gets. We are very good at the PK but lets not be the Ducks making that part of our game plan (it can turn on you at any given moment).

Find a power play that gets results rather than the one that just looks great. I am all for taking the quality shot, for opening the lanes and however else people say a PP can be successful but after watching our guys do those things night after night and not get rewarded, it may be time for some throw shit at the net and force it to stick action. Traffic and scrums may just get it done and I propose we at least try it a few times.

Shoot. Shoot! SHOOT! Jimmy Howard has suddenly found a game, he will not be an easy mark. We have good success when we have the patience to wait for that quality shot. But more often than not lately it has been the garbage goal or the flukey goal that has turned the tide for us. So rack up the rubber that hits their net, raining rubber often falls true for us.

Keep Holmstrom out of the crease. Bryzzie has got to be tired of smellin that boy all night long. If Breezer can see it he can stop it. If that big putz is parked in that no stopping zone our chances get slimmer. ( I know Z doesn’t have the weight to do it so Jovo or Aucoin are gonna have to give that guy a JovoCop style warning or two)

Let’s win in regulation guys! Novel concept but we really need to stop with the OT/SO stuff!

Other stuff that is news -

It is a dangerous time to be a coach in the NHL. The Blues have done away with coach Andy Murray today. Davis Payne, who has paid some dues in the ECHL and AHL has been named the interim coach.

It is official. The Yotes have 3 in the Olympics. Michalek, Lepisto and Bryzgalov have all been chosen to represent their countries. Barring injury it doesn’t look like we’ll see any other Yotes going to Vancouver. Canada is missing out on the heart and leadership that is Doan but the Czech’s are missing even more by passing on any of our 3 Czech Federation mates. It will really be cool to watch the Michaleks play together for once. Both Z and Milan made the team! Funny how times have changed, I was really pulling for Yandle to make the USA squad. The boy is no more, the man coulda made a difference for the US squad.

New Year”s Jersey Auction for Coyotes Charities goes thru January 13th (8pm EST) go bid on your favorite player’s autographed jersey.

Tickets! Discounts and freebies.. Ambassador’s Club discounted tickets HERE. Circle K is still running the buy Pepsi, get 2 lower bowl tickets promotion so you can still take advantage of that sweet deal too. (remember you need your receipt AND the in store voucher to get your tickets at the Arena window!)

Save the date! Remember there is a Coyotes Carnival coming up. Phoenix Coyotes President and Chief Operating Officer Douglas Moss announced today that the Coyotes will host Coyotes Carnival presented by Heritage Graphics at Tempe Town Lake on Sunday, Jan. 10 from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tickets to the Carnival are available for $10 while children aged two and under will be admitted for free.

Happy Birthday to our resident wild child hockey gurl Michelle! We couldn’t serve her sushi on Thursday so we’ll hit Mr. Motos for all you can eat today in celebration. And then its off to the tailgate where we’ll make merry as usual in Lot J starting around 2:30. Puck drops at 6pm and doors open at 5pm. Hope to see you all there.

Pics from BTinAZ’s collection.

As usual…GO COYOTES!

Cause apparently I’m psycho.. psychic.

Lombo, Upshall and Doan! On fire and totally dominating. If that keeps up, the Western conference is in biiiig trouble.

Just gonna throw out some random thoughts cuz…well I’m so juiced up right now, sleep is going to be impossible and coherent thought is totally out of the question.

We won tonight, taking the series 3 of 4. We smelled desperation and blood on the air and our uber carnivore instincts apparently shifted into high gear.

Hanzal, I salute you. (quick hint… you had him all day til you bent the elbow and let him into reach… thnx DT for pointing that out, I couldn’t see how asshole…Boll got the better of Marty) It took balls and heart to step into that fight. I hope your teammates buy you some liquid anesthetic and give you major love for that. Still wondering why Jovo Oaks didn’t step in and take that one? (Thanks to hockey fights and DTG for pointing out that I had the wrong goober) Skill guys VS goon (Marty AND Verby gettin eff’d over by Boll?) Jovo shoulda been all over that. But Marty has been gaining a set of clankers as he’s taken on AND contained the best the league has to offer. I guess this was the final stage of his evolution into a monster. Don’t worry Marty, word on the street is that chicks dig scars.

WTF were the reffs calling on the Michalek scrum? Seriously, Z goes down hard and those asshats surround him and punch and kick him? Then one pulls him up out of the pile to try to start a fight? And the refs miss all that? They call Z for the boarding but miss 5 jerkwads trying to kill him? *head desk* Yes he laid out a hit that could have been borderline but to completely ignore the afters is just plain mind boggling.

This was perhaps the most complete game the boys have played so far. The big guns were finally blazing full force (10 points for the Lombo combo of Upshall, Doan and Lombardi) the defense was clicking on all cylinders. Even without Fiddy, Winnie was totally focused and making life miserable for the jackasses Jackets. The new boy Bubba didn’t embarrass himself (at 34, Anders isn’t so much of a boy) bt what matters is that he came in and added a helper, which bodes well for the future blueline contributions. Mueller was present and accounted for a few times, a couple of nice shots and a couple that were blocked. (Seriously though Petey, don’t make it so obvious by standing still in our high slot alone you stand out when your man is behind you sneakin in on Bryz and you don’t move too)

And Bryzzie… you played very well dear heart but don’t think I didn’t notice you trying to shoot yourself in the foot playing the puck ala Turdco. Stay in your crease and let the boys do the heavy lifting.

What is with the official stats? Can’t believe they missed that horrendous give away by my boy.

So anyway, it was a great game that had a little bit of everything. Fights, blood, offense, discipline, power plays and one of the most beautiful tic tac toe displays I’ve ever seen with Jovo, Lombo, Uppy and Doan crisscross passing through the Jackets zone 4 on 2 and actually scoring on it! Huzzah! Everybody contributed a little somethin somethin. Brought a tear to my eye.

We are still in 6th place in the West. Only 1 point behind the Kings and the Preds. The view is beautiful from 10th place in the league. We are 8 – 2 for our last 10 and show no signes of stopping. When has December been this much fun?

So we play tomorrow night. The dirty Ducks come to town fresh off a win against the Avs. (thanks for slowing COL down for us Quackers) we need to win this one cleanly. The Ducks seem to be gettin their poop in a group so we’re in for a battle as usual.

Keys to the game?

Well we tried shellin Hiller into extinction which didn’t work out so well. Its time to break out the garbage goals I guess. We saw a bit of Jovo in front of Garron last night, maybe between his big rump and Bubba’s we can screen Hiller long enough to grab a couple of goals. Pruu! the other boys have turned it on, maybe you can give us one of your crazy aerobatic performances? Its even better than garbage goals watchin Prucha break dance thru the crease with the puck on his stick (or behind the opponent’s goalie). Whichever way we gotta do it, its time to get creative, that is one hot goalie.

Stay focused and disciplined. We may be the only team that can beat the Ducks at taking penalties. Bobby Ryan will make us regret every one (if Getzlaf and Perry don’t beat him to it). Play your position, waltz with your man if thats the only way you can keep up with him (or hug him or tell him to say hi to his sister for you, whatever it takes) just don’t get caught out and then try to make it all better by hacking at him.

This is a division rival known for comebacks. Do NOT give them any opportunities to be IN this game. Containment, containment, containment.

I guess Fiddy is still questionable and Marty may be feelin some serious after affects so we’re gonna get to possibly see Porter who was called up today. He’s old enough to fit Tippett’s preferred player profile. Hopefully he can shine tomorrow night and get to stick around for a bit.

Hunker down dawgs! Lets keep that home record win stat climbing. (we’re 13-5-0 at home) Puck drops at 7pm, hope to see you there.

Positive press? from TSN no less. Power rankings are often silly and inconsequential and obvious but its nice to be given credit finally.

Ambassador’s club discounted tickets available! Go buy some so I can beat Marc please.

As always… GO COYOTES!

We’ve got some Jackets coming into town that need to be hung out to dry.

Hoo boy! We’ve won 2 of the 3 and really, really need to take this one. Keeping Columbus down is not the issue, we can’t look behind us, we have to focus hard on climbing over bodies in front of us, Columbus’ 2 points provides a great step towards that goal. It wont kill us if we slip this one but with Ducks and Kings AND Sharks ahead of us, this game has to be won ( that old saying about winning the games that we should, becomes paramount here). 4 conference opponents and the Sharks twice is plain old ugly. THOSE are must win games, this one is a ’should’ that places us in a position of strength to finish the year end strong. If we win this one, losing one of the other less sure thing games, won’t hurt as much. We can’t overlook these guys by any means. But its time to step it up a notch. This is when the ‘real’ teams ramp up to become contenders. If you have that extra gear, this is the beginning of the shifting. Its almost the halfway mark and if we’re going to be competitors this game should mark our line in the sand.

So what is is going to take to make our statement?

Man Down - We’ve got to throw lazy, undisciplined play out the window. We cannot continue to give our opponents uneccessary chances to score. We are equal to anyone 5 on 5.  Our PK has been through the fire enough. Its time to stop wearing them out. It hampers us in untold ways when our blue line can’t contribute offensively because they have been at a disadvantage for a quarter of a game, night after night. Positioning, grit and cool heads have to prevail each and every game going forward. Play it simple and smart and don’t get caught out, we can’t afford to keep playing from behind.

Man Advantage - do we even know what that means? Its high time we learned. Our PP is all strum und drang. We look good, get good chances but rarely bury them. The NHL is a crap shoot if your special teams suck. Our PP officially sucks in that it is never there when it really counts. This has to stop, right now. When we’re given such an opportunity, we have to find some urgency. We have to have net presence. We have to become dangerous.

Offensively - Committee scoring is fine but its time for the offense to step up. Doaner has to wake up (don’t get me wrong, his contributions have been fantastic) but his mad bull, score at all cost personae has to make an appearance now. This team has been successful following his all heart performances. He has to bring that back. Vrbata is warming up finally (he’s shooting like crazy already) but he has to start burying more of them because 1 -2 goal wins are not going to get the job done going forward. Lombardi and Prucha came in at the end of last season and along with Upshall, delivered hope inducing performances. We need them to give us the heart, the speed, the never-say-die mentality and energy that we know they can. If these 3 can find that mindset again, there is no way we can be stopped from grabbing a playoff berth. Winnik, Fiddler and Pyatt have to remain dangerous. After the crazy Czech Federation, they are the most solid and dependable scoring and containment unit we’ve got.

Defensively - How in the hell does Keith Yandle lead the blueliners in points? Confidence, willingness to take a risk and the ability to learn to step outside his comfort zone, thats how. I was never a fan, the kid was giving me palpitations (and I still wish he’d stop crossin his crease on his rushes). Keith Yandle is an example for Aucoin and Jovanovski to follow. Calculated risks, balls and accountability from these big guns HAS to come to the surface going forward. They have the most experience and they should be digging down deep to be the warrior leaders, not be led by the child prodigy. Z has his hands full, pulling the most minutes of TOI at nearly 30 per game. Playing 2nd goalie, the foundation for the #1 pairing and of course PKing for all he’s worth, he’s not going to be scoring the kinds of goals we need from the back end so its going to be up to the big 3. Until Sauer is able to come back the other 2 spots are going to be rookies Lepisto and possibly alternated between  David Schlemko (who has done an admirable job) and the new kid we just called up Anders Eriksson. I’m betting Tippett is looking for another offensive minded contributor that can be brought along quickly. This is not exactly the time to experiment but we need to get as much firepower on our backend as possible, better to know now if we have it (while there is still time to go out and trade for it or buy it somewhere).

Goaltending - I still don’t think Labarbra is the answer for when we need to rest Bryz. I hope beyond all hope that Maloney and Tippett are putting their heads together to get us a better option. With Montoya in a sling, we’ll have to go outside the organization to get this done. I have never stopped believing in the magic within Ilya Bryzgalov. I just don’t want to ride him til he drops. We’re gonna need every last ounce of #1 goalie out of him in the stretch.

These things are nothing new but this season we are as complete as we have ever been. This is the season that I believe tweaking may be the difference between playoffs and an early tee time. You may have noticed that I don’t have Mueller listed as one of the crucial cogs in this effort. You have to give up something to get a good return and it just may be that PM needs a change to get his groove back and he would certainly be an excellent starting point in talking offensive trade with another team. (Just my personal opinion at this point unless he proves me wrong by finding that switch inside him).

But first we have to take the Jackets to the cleaners.

Keys to the game?

Continue to contain Rick Nash. No one can give the Jackets the will to live like this kid. We can’t afford to let them have any life. Crush them early by making Nash invisible. Don’t get out of position, don’t let him cross the neutral unmolested. Play him close and do NOT let him have any room.

Goalie Steve Mason continues to struggle hot and cold. Mostly due to a lack of major defensive help. But do not doubt that this goalie can get hot. We have to make sure the percentages fall on our side. Shots from everywhere could shake this guy enough to give us the edge. But it has to be all 60 minutes of raining rubber. Do not let him get his feet under him or he could make us sorry. Chase him out of the net like Colorado just did by shaking him early and often. According to other previews we may see Garon again (I wouldn’t blame Hitch if he did this) Garron played us tight last game but the same principles apply. This is not rocket science. Shake the goalie, take the game.

Take control early. Play full throttle all 60 minutes. Play the damn system with discipline and guts.

Puck drops at 7PM. Hope to see you all there.

As always… GO COYOTES!