Wojtek Wolski's Late Goal Lifts Coyotes Past Avalanche 3-1

Everyone seems to have seen it coming, but the Colorado Avalanche didn't, otherwise they would have stopped it. The now, Phoenix Coyotes' Wojtek Wolski blasted a nice pass from Shane Doan past Craig Anderson to put the Coyotes up 2-1 with only 22 seconds left in the game. Radim Vrbata added another one with the empty netter, but It was Wolski's that iced it.

Earlier in the game Lee Stempniak got on the board first with another nicely assisted goal from Vernon Fiddler. Fiddler took the puck behind the net and found Stempniak charging in to bury it.  Both new aquisitions looked good. Stempniak with Daniel Winnik and Fiddler were pressuring the Avalanche all night. Wolski's line with Shane Doan and Matthew Lombardi clicked at times, but may take a little longer to find it's rhythm. Maybe that initial goal will help some. 

Ilya Bryzgalov also looked sharp in the win making 23 saves on 24 shots. He shut down the Avs on a 4 on 3 that really got the momentum swinging in the Coyotes' favor. 

As for Peter Mueller, who was making his return after we hadn't seen him in forever (not really) he did get an assist on the Colorado goal that was scored by John-Michael Liles. He also got a little extra oomph in the hits that came his way including a couple from Jim Vandermeer. 

Both Derek Morris and Petteri Nokelainen looked pretty good in their first games. Morris was solid on the blueline and Nokelainen was hitting pretty hard from the get go. I think everyone is fairly encouraged by the contributions made by the new guys even if it is only one game. They can't score every game (Can they?), but they're certainly off to a good start. 

Coach Dave Tippett was pretty complimentary, but as usual said that there was plenty of work still to do. He commented on Taylor Pyatt's healthy scratch that he wouldn't be the last one to see the press box. There are plenty of NHL players now competing for their spots on the team. If guys aren't putting in the effort they might not just see their playing time decrease, but vanish all together.

Here's the video of the coach after last night's game...