IT CAME FROM OUT OF THE ICE : COYOTES (3) VS FLYERS (1) 12/5/19
CAPSULE : I will admit, I thought the Flyers kinda sucked to start the season, but they are rounding out into a well-balanced team. They have 16 wins just like the Coyotes, and 2 less losses. At 16-7-5 coming in to this one they feature a middle of the road offense, but have the 6th best defense in the NHL allowing just 2.64 goals per game. They also have a “P” with wings for a logo, so what are you going to do about that? The Coyotes like the Flyers come in as the 4th best team in their respective conference with a record of 16-9-4.
SODERBERG (34) – Had a few issues in the 2nd getting the puck far out of the zone. He was getting it just barely out, then coughing it up to a Flyers player.
STEPAN (21) – Was tied for the lead in shots after 2 periods with 2. Him and Kessel accounted for almost half the Coyotes shots in the 1st 2 periods.
DVORAK (18) – Has scored almost double the goals of Kessel this year with 8, but Kessel is killing him in the “hotdogs eaten” category. He had a great shot in the 3rd, but couldn’t quite bury it. He did have one of the assists on the Garland goal.
SCHMALTZ (8) – Is ironically tied with Goligoski as the 15th best at “Assists” in the Pacific Division. Both Schmaltz and Goligoski have 15 each. In this game he fanned on a shot in the 2nd period that would have put the Coyotes up 2-0 at the time.
GARLAND (83) – Not sure how many times I heard, “Garland, wide of the net” tonight. This is the 2nd game in a row where he didn’t even register a shot on net in the first 2 periods. This isn’t a criticism per say, I love Garland…it’s just a fact. In the 3rd however he would put a shot passed the Flyers goalie to give the Coyotes a 2-0 lead. He also accidentally scored a goal for the Flyers in the 3rd on a shot that went off his foot. That made the score 2-1 Coyotes at the time.
CROUSE (67) – If he gets traded for Taylor Hall, Coyotes fans should riot.
NEVER TELL ME IT’S TOO EARLY TO TALK ABOUT THE PLAYOFFS OR TO DRINK SLEEPY TIME TEA – If the playoffs started today, the Eastern Conference wouldn’t be represented by any Canadian based team. Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal are all on the outside looking in.
KESSEL (81) – Scored the Coyotes Power Play goal in the 1st period off a nice pass from Keller. He actually led the team in shots on net after 2 periods with 2. That is how little the Coyotes were shooting. Kessel also scored an empty net goal in the 3rd to put the Coyotes up 3-1.
GRABNER (40) – Something might be up with him? Another off night.
KELLER (9) – Had the assist on the Kessel goal in the 1st period.
FISCHER (36) – A pretty good night for him with 3 blocks.
HINOSTROZA (13) – Only had 1 shot on goal tonight but had the puck a ton as usual.
WEALTH MANAGEMENT - Don’t you think if I figured out how to get $100,000, that I probably wouldn’t need you to manage it all of a sudden.
RICHARDSON (15) – Has been a bit snake bitten this year. Hjalmarsson only played 4 games and had a goal. Richardson has played 22 and still has 0. The only one on the team that has played that many games without a goal is Demers who has played 27 games and hasn’t scored. Granted, Demers is a defensemen.
OEL (23) – Had a rough night offensively once he got out of the defensive zone. Mostly due to just not making sure his passes out of the zone got to a Coyotes player. He did have an assist in the 3rd period.
DEMERS (55) – “He has my career in his hands” In reference to OEL and their chemistry on defense.
CHYCHRUN (6) – Spent the night specializing in icing calls and minor penalties until he put got an assist on the Garland goal and started putting shots on net. A rough start turned into a solid night for him, he even led the team in blocks with 4.
9 - The number of cups of coffee I had this week. It’s also the number of shots the Coyotes had on goal after 2 periods. You have got to be kidding me. How does that even happen?
GOLIGOSKI (33) – Had his stick slashed out of his hand in the 3rd period. He found it though.
LYUBUSHKIN (46) – Made a pretty bad turnover in the 3rd that almost ended up in the net. One of very very few mistakes on his part tonight.
OESTERLE (82) – Not a terrible night, but not a good one either.
KUEMPER (35) – Don’t worry about it. He is still blocking shots in interviews after the game.
WRAP UP – Sometimes when you are in the parking lot and you see the one junky car that looks like part of the junk yard escaped and started driving around. That was the Coyotes in this game. It was a brutal glued together mish mosh of stuff that ended up in a win. Oddly enough, all the best teams have those wins from time to time throughout the year. Gutsy, ugly, messy junkyard hockey. We’ll take it. The Coyotes are now 17-9-4 and at the top of the Pacific Division for the first time since 2012.
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