Phoenix Coyotes at Tampa Bay Lightning - Game #70 Preview - We're almost home...
And when I say the Phoenix Coyotes are almost home I don't mean from the roadtrip, but to a home in the Playoffs. Technically our magic number after tonight would be 7, but realistically it's not going to take quite that to get in. But guess what? I'm not even thinking about magic numbers with San Jose losing games and us continuing our winning ways bringing a 5 game winning streak into the St. Pete Time Forum against the Lightning. Dream big. Get the division. Shock the world.
On to the matter at hand though. I need to focus on one game at a time much like the guys do. I'm getting ahead of myself. Tonight we face a Tampa Bay team that has really fallen off the map since the last time we met in November. They looked like a resurgent team under new leadership as well. But since then they've slowly gone backwards and now find themselves in 10th place in the East 4 points back of Boston who's in 8th. To say the Lightning need this win would be an understatement at this point. That doesn't mean we're going to cough them up by any means though. We'll need to be on the lookout for the top line of Steven Stamkos - Martin St. Louis - Steve Downie as they've been bringing it lately. Downie of course was involved in the Crosby hit that got so much play this weekend, but the line is scoring in bunches even if it's not translating into wins. If there's a weak spot to exploit it's got to be the goaltending. It's been streaky all year with Mike Smith getting starts here and there behind Antero Niittymaki. Niittymaki has been more solid, with a GAA of 2.69 and a.914 sv%. Even so he's only seen 39 starts with Smith getting about 30. Niitty is expected to get the start tonight.
Hopefully the Coyotes got some rest after a hard fought overtime win in Atlanta on a quick turn around. They did practice yesterday so there wasn't just off time, but somethings got to look better as they just looked asleep on Sunday. The did manage to find a way to win as Jason LaBarbera at least looked rested. Ilya Bryzgalov will take over again as he was stellar against Carolina. Look for the NHL's second star of the week Lee Stempniak to stay involved as well as he's just been on fire. 6G, 1A +7 in 5 games so far. Martin Hanzal didn't practice yesterday, though the Coyotes said his injury that he suffered early in the Thrashers' game wasn't serious. He'll either be back or we might see Robert Lang back in the line up or even just move someone else to center and put one of the wings in. The scratches from last game were Petr Prucha, Viktor Tikhonov and Jim Vandermeer with Lang and Sami Lepisto out for injuries. We'll see if anyone played hard enough in practice today to get back some ice time.
STARTING GOALTENDERS
Last time out he shutout Carolina and now leads the league and is tied for the team record in shutouts. If he's seeing the puck even half as well as he did in Carolina the Lightning will be in serious trouble.
Like I said before looking at the record he's alright statistically, but he's streaky. A lot of the Ws in that record came in an 8 game stretch between Jan. 21 and Feb. 9 where he went 7-1. Other than that he's been spotty. He'll have a good game or two and then implode so Smith gets a call. His last game was a tough 2-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday.
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Coyote Tracks - Tuesday March 16 Edition
Well, the Coyotes play tonight against the Lightning. Coyotes are an amazing 20 games over .500, and well on their way to the playoffs barring a major collapse. In fact, the Coyotes number is 7...or 5.5...really, I'm not entirely sure, but I'll post the two links after the jump, you can review them yourselves and make your own judgment. Either way, the Coyotes just need to keep on winning to ensure home ice advantage for the first round (and, who knows, maybe if the Sharks want to keep on losing...).
Travis will have the game preview up later...just be aware of the line of Steve Downie - Martin St. Louis - Steven Stamkos. The Lightning played really well when they came to Jobing.com Arena earlier in the season, hopefully the Coyotes can return the favor.
LAST NIGHT'S NHL SCORES: BOS 2 - NJ 3; EDM 3 - CLS 5; DET 2 - CGY 1
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After the jump - big days ahead for the Coyotes and Ice Edge Holdings, what exactly is the Coyotes magic number, Desert Ninja gets a star and Bryzzie's amazing year continues...
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Versus to Return to Directv Just In Time for the NHL Playoffs.
Per a DirecTV release via it's twitter account and website Versus will be returning to is regularly scheduled programming in the same position it was before this whole dustup began. Having been off the DirecTV air since August of 2009 the Comcast owned network was battling in order to not be relegated to a "sports tier" for which customers would have to pay an extra 10$ a month.
While there aren't any more Coyotes games scheduled to be shown on the Channel in the regular season, the Channel does show many of the early round playoff games and could have precluded local channels from carrying the game. Now those fears have been put to rest at least.
On the downside we now return to complaining about shoddy camera work and Brian Engblom's horrible hair.
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The Adopt the Coyotes Letters - Edmonton Oilers Edition
Phoenix Coyotes Fans
Jobing.com Arena
Glendale, AZ
www.fiveforhowling.com
Edmonton Oilers Fans
Rexall Place
Edmonton, AB
www.coppernblue.com
Dear Edmonton Oilers Fans:
It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter to you today. I know it hasn't been easy for you lot this season. What with players getting hurt all year and your team not performing as well as you had hoped. Even with some quality players it just didn't work out. Now you've been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with a league low 49 points as of this writing, your season is pretty much over. In fact in speaking with some of your fans and reading your posts you gave up on this season some time ago. That's never a fun feeling. We Coyote fans have been there many times. It's not a fun feeling watching your season slip away from you. But that sadness isn't why i'm writing to you today. No, I want to invite you back to watching and enjoying hockey again. And to do so watching the Phoenix Coyotes both for the rest of the season and into the Playoffs.
After the Jump I'll give you some reasons why this could be a good fit...
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Coyote Tracks - Monday March 15 Edition
Ok, seriously people - let's have Travis do the links more often - 2 days when Travis does the links, 2 Coyotes wins...need I say more. And what nice wins. Ilya Bryzgalov sets the team mark for shutouts in a season with 8 blanking the Hurricanes - extra chili cheese dogs for you!
Coyotes then turn it around on the next afternoon and get a big win in the shootout against the Thrashers! Went to a shootout as the Coyotes couldn't seem to get things going early in the game and then got victimized later in the game on two power play goals by Atlanta. Lee Stempniak (aka Desert Ninja) scored again - holy god Toronto fans have got to be pissed. Matthew Lombardi had the other regulation goal off a great shot by Keith Yandle (who also had a great shot that led to the Stempniak goal)...he just continues to impress. And then, of course, Adrian Aucoin (aka Shootout Master, aka Oakie, aka Doubloon (you all will support this nickname eventually!)) scores the game-winning goal in the 4th round.
Anyways, game recap from Travis here. [AP take via AZCentral (Gintonio not on road trip?)] [Bird Watchers Anonymous aka Thrashers coverage will be up at some point as well] [@YotesGurl's take is here - and it is hilarious!]
YESTERDAY'S NHL SCORES: PHL 3 - NYR 1; WSH 4 - CHI 3 (OT); NSH 3 - LAK 2; COL 5 - DAL 3; TOR 1 - NYI 4; PIT 2 - TB 1; STL 2 - MIN 4; SJ 2 - ANA 4; CGY 1 - VAN 3 (that's it Calgary - get back to losing and improving our first round pick)
After the break, Coyotes playoff potential, longest game in NCAA history and some of my favorite whimsy of the year...
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Adrian Aucoin Again Lifts Coyotes in the Shootout, This Time Over Thrashers 3-2
What was once a joke is now starting to become an expectation. Adrian Aucoin has gone form the guy who the coaching staff just took a chance on in the shootout to the guy that's being sent out to win them now. He's not only 4 for 4 in the shootout, but each of those four have been the deciding goal each time. He's not doing anything fancy. He typically just skates in and blasts it from about the hash marks right past the opposing goaltender.
The Coyotes though were lucky to get the game to a point where they were going in the shootout though as this was a quick turn around for a team that played last night and lost an hour to daylight savings. They looked like a team that was tired for the majority of the game. Matthew Lombardi was able to find a goal in the second period getting a tip in off a Keith Yandle shot from the point. The puck just seemed to be pinballing all over but found it's way in. It was a bit of luck that the Coyotes needed with how asleep everyone seemed to be. Well, everyone except Jason LaBarbera. He was outstanding. He made a ton of big saves and really saved this game for the coyotes making 39 stops on 41 shots.
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Coyotes at Thrashers - Game #69 Gamethread - Hehe.
AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
LET'S GO COYOTES!
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