IT CAME FROM OUT OF THE ICE : COYOTES (3) VS FLAMES (0) 11/16/19
CAPSULE : For the first time this year TJ Brodie will not be
starting for the Flames. TJ collapsed in practice earlier this week. I hope he
has a speedy recovery. The Flames feature the 6th best penalty kill
in the NHL at 85.5%. They come into the game at a record of 10-8-3. The Coyotes
feature the 4th best defense in the NHL and come into this one with
a record of 11-7-2. This month the Coyotes have not lost a game by more than a
goal. They have also not scored more than 4 goals in a game since October.
DVORAK (18) – Going to put his game in the decent category,
not the great category.
DON’T WORRY YOUR’RE NOT KILLING ME SCHMALTZ (8) – Had a nice shot in the 2nd that
almost went in, but also lead to a rebound that Garland just missed for an open
netter. There was at least one play
where I can say I would have liked to see him shoot rather than pass, but that
isn’t a complaint.
HOTTER THAN A BOILING KESSEL (81) – Had an assist today and
a nice shot late in the 3rd that didn’t go in. I think everyone
would say they Coyotes expected more, but his lack of production goal wise is
not due to lack of effort.
KELLER (9) – Knocked Kylington down on a drive in the 1st period towards
the net. I think it’s the first time I have ever seen Keller go through someone
like they were a plastic bag. He was later tripped by Backlund who must have
saw Keller going by him in the rear-view mirror, because you could see he
purposely stuck his leg out for the tripping. It did draw the penalty but
lately getting a Power Play for the Coyotes has meant almost nothing. Keller
continued to cause issues for the Flames in the 2nd when 3 Flames
players took him down on the same play leading to another Coyotes Power Play.
STEPAN (21) – Put a puck past the Flames net-minder in the 2nd
period. This happened after their goalie served an attempted clearing pass
right to Stepan. He polished it off, took it out to dinner, caught a movie and
still had time to bury it. This is the 3rd game in a row where teams
from other players assisted on goals for the Coyotes. He lead the team in shots
today with 4 for the game.
200 – Seems to be a thing today. Schmaltz and Kuemper’s 200th NHL game is this one.
DON'T FORGET THE GARLAND (83) – It is nice to see Garland on the top line for
a 2nd game in a row. He lead the team in shots with 3 after 2
periods, but got nothing on net in the 3rd.
GRABNER (40)- The
refs were calling it pretty tight today. Grabs penalty was pretty weak along
with the first penalty called on the Flames.
RICHARDSON (15) – Had a really good chance to score late in
the 3rd, but wasn’t quite able to put it 5 hole. He has had a rough
year so far scoring wise. He did have an amazing block late in the 3rd.
Gotta love his effort.
BREAKING AN ENTERING – Shouldn’t Pat get arrested for
breaking into the Toyota dealership? At first those commercials were fine, but
I can’t stand them now. Toyota does make a great car though.
HINOSTROZA (13) – Looked really good early distributing the
puck with nice tape to tape passes. Overall his energy is contagious.
CROUSE (67) – Had a
great pass to Soderberg in the 1st which Soderberg almost buried for
the first goal of the game. In the 2nd he had another great pass on
a breakaway to Soderberg and Soderberg didn’t miss. Crouse has been very good
the last 2 few games here perhaps his best of the season. He did take a penalty
against Anderson after knocking him to the ice with 1 punch. They ended up
giving him a double minor. Anderson just got a minor so the Flames went on the
power play. The Flames couldn’t score and later Crouse scored on an empty
netter to put the nail in the Flames coffin.
SODERBERG (34) – Had a great goal in the 2nd that
made the score 2-0 at the time. Soderberg is slowly bringing himself up the
points leaderboard for the Coyotes. He’s been a great addition. I remember
disliking this dude bigtime when he played with the Avs.
FISCHER (36) – Had the lowest time on ice of any Coyote
today. Not much going on for him, and I rarely saw him up in the play, so that
might have been part of why that ice time was low.
OEL (23) – I will
never not be thankful for Shane Doan and recognize him at the greatest NHL
captain of all time, but OEL is a great captain as well. This team is very
fortunate to have him. For today I would like to see him taking more shots from
downtown, like in years past, but perhaps that isn’t part of the teams plan to
keep our Power Play as in-effective as possible.
DEMERS SOME NICE FISTS YOU’VE GOT THERE (55) – Went down on
the ice late in the 2nd but seems to be okay. He ended up drawing a roughing
penalty on the play for a fight that involved Gaudreau, Tkachuk, and Rittich of
the Flames and Demers and Kuemper of the Coyotes.
BUT IT’S STILL ON THERE? – If there is such a thing as “fall
off the bone” ribs…how is it that they come with any meat on them? Wouldn’t it have, you know, fallen off?
CHYCHRUN (6) – Solid game for him2 shots on net, 4 blocks
and 3 hits.
GOLIGOSKI (33) – Took
a brutal hit in the 2nd period, with his chin hitting the boards. No
penalty was called and Goligoski stayed in the game, but wow. The refs went
from calling ticky tac penalties to calling nothing fast. He ended up leading
the team in blocks today with 7. I can’t remember the last time I saw any
Coyote have 7 blocks in a game.
TYSON – His mustache is out of control. I mean, it’s cool,
but it’s out of control. He might want to have someone monitor that thing before
it wanders off on him.
TAKING CARE OF BIS-NESS (42) – Most nights I am saying things like “he didn’t
hurt the team”. Today was probably his best game as a Coyote, he did just about
everything you can do as a defensemen.
OESTERLE (82) – Spent
portions of his night getting under Tkachuk’s skin. Great game for him in this
one, 2 shots on net, 2 hits and 3 blocks.
KUEMPER-ATURE RISING (35)– Is not taking any
crap. He totally body-slammed Gaudreau of the Flames after he started taking
jabs at Demers after he went down on the ice in the 2nd period. I
haven’t seen anything like that in a long time. Holy cow. Kuemper was not
having it. If you get a chance to watch a video of this thing, it’s worth
Bing-ing it. I would have said Google, but Google sucks. Or if this link still works you can go here.
WRAP UP – This game was more what we’d expect out of this
club. Granted the loss against Minnesota was probably due more to fatigue than
anything else. I think a big key to this one was the D getting to Tkachuk and
taking him out of his game. Kuemper was also out-freakin standing. The Coyotes now sit in 2nd in the Pacific at 12-7-2.
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