Coyotes Ups and Downs: April 6 Edition
by Jordan Ellel on Apr 6, 2011 1:30 PM MST
in Coyotes Stats
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Hard to do a lot of detailed judging of the Phoenix Coyotes on the basis of just one game over the past week, but as the Coyotes prepare for their final three games, players seem to be on the mend although they remain without a clinched playoff berth, let alone home ice advantage or a favorable match-up.
As we do every Wednesday, join us after the jump for a look at who's trending up, trending down and sitting in neutral.
And here we go:
| Goalies | Trend | Notes |
| Ilya Bryzgalov |  |
Bryz didn't have his finest outing against Colorado, although for the most part the team was asleep in front of him. He was however victimized on the only shot he faced in the third period and then again in the shootout. One of the things that haunted us last playoffs was that Bryz was unable to steal a game for us against Detroit; hopefully, he will be dominant this year. |
| Jason LaBarbera | |
Nothing to report - Barbs is just keeping the players' moods light and doing his job to the best of his ability. |
| Defensemen | ||
| Adrian Aucoin | |
Still not on the scoresheet, but Oakie is doing his job defensively despite being a -1 against Colorado. He was second on the team in shorthanded ice time which allowed the Coyotes to kill all 4 penalties they took. |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson |  |
OEL was sent to San Antonio, and despite a rough first game back (from what I read), it's good that he's getting playing time again. His raw talents will always be strong and the key for him is just developing his game awareness for the North American style. It will come in time. |
| Ed Jovanovski |  |
It looks like Jovo should be back on the ice tonight against Los Angeles and the three games may be just enough time for him to get back to speed. |
| Rostislav Klesla | |
Still no points since his first game, but Klesla certainly isn't here to provide that - his defensive game was stronger against Colorado than it was the previous week. |
| Derek Morris | |
DMo was a +1 against Colorado and played his now typical strong defensive physical game. He's still the guy most likely to break his stick on a one timer for the team, but maybe he can cash in a few this postseason. |
| Michal Rozsival | |
Rozsival was a -1 against Colorado although I can't say I really noticed him out there much, which is probably a good thing for a defensive defenseman. |
| Kurt Sauer | |
Sarah McClellan had a fabulous article about Sauer this past week - really heart-wrenching stuff. I highly recommend that you go read it here. |
| David Schlemko | |
Schlemko may be the odd man out against Los Angeles with Jovo's return to the line-up; Schlem has played well, but he's probably the most prone to a defensive mistake and we know how Tippett feels about those types of players. |
| Keith Yandle | |
Yandle had an assist, a few shots on goal, a few blocked shots, 26+ minutes of ice time. Basically, he was everything we expect him to be for the Coyotes...but it's hard to say that that is anything other than business as usual, not hot or cold. |
| Forwards | ||
| Eric Belanger | |
Belanger had an assist against Colorado and 6 shots on goal, despite being a -1. Playing with Doan has brought out the best in Belanger it seems and they'll need him to play that well going into the post-season as the #1 center for this squad. |
| Paul Bissonnette | |
Only 2:46 of ice time against Colorado. I'm tempted to give him a plus though for his phenomenal twitter chirping of new guy @Andy_Miele after Miele's first practice on Monday. |
| Mikkel Boedker | |
Boedker may not have had a point against Colorado, but it wasn't for lack of effort. He's been a sparkplug since returning to the Phoenix squad and with the increased ice time he's receiving he is making it count. |
| Shane Doan | |
Doan had a goal and an assist against the Avs and continues to play unbelievable in all three zones. I think Doan has earned a spot on the PK going forward with his intense play. Against Colorado, Doan played over 25 minutes - that is insane for a forward. |
| Andrew Ebbett | |
Ebbett's been playing a bit better lately, although he barely took any faceoffs the other night which had been his strength recently. With Fiddler back and Korpikoski coming back and Pyatt, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ebbett return to the press box for a few games. |
| Vernon Fiddler | |
Fiddy comes back, logs over 17 minutes of ice time, gets 3 shots on goal, wins over 64% of his faceoffs. Everything we expect from Fiddy. |
| Martin Hanzal | |
According to @Yotesgurl, Marty is actually alive and skating at practice. Not sure we can ask for much more. Hopefully he is back on the ice against San Jose this weekend so he is completely ready to go in the playoffs. |
| Ryan Hollweg |
|
Nothing flashy from Hollweg, and not getting a ton of ice time with just over 6 minutes against Colorado, but he delivered 3 big hits during that time and seemed to get the team going a bit after they trailed 2-0. |
| Lauri Korpikoski | |
Korpy is skating with the team again and he should be back tonight against Los Angeles which is a good thing for the Coyotes considering how important he is to the team in all facets of the game. |
| Brett MacLean | |
Brett's had only 6 minutes in the game against Colorado, but they were largely unmemorable (mostly because I can't remember him doing anything special whatsoever). |
| Andy Miele |
|
The Hobey Baker finalist signs with the Coyotes, flies to Phoenix, participates in his first practice, gains a few thousand twitter followers and engages in some epic chirping with BizNasty...I love this kid already. |
| Taylor Pyatt | |
Pyatt missed the game against Colorado, but should be back tonight against Los Angeles - the M*A*S*H unit continues to grow, although it looks like almost everyone is on the right side of the healing process. |
| Lee Stempniak | |
With the team down 2-0, it was Lee's individual effort that allowed the Coyotes to work their way back into the game. Lee's effort on his play exemplified his game this season and hopefully he will continue to play as well as he has recently and keep getting on the score sheet going through the postseason. |
| Kyle Turris | |
Kyle got some increased ice time against Colorado and had 4 shots on goal, including a few pretty good scoring opportunities. I also noticed KT going into the corners and actually winning pucks - if he keeps up that type of play, he's going to keep seeing more ice time and his productivity should increase. |
| Radim Vrbata | |
Vrby tried to take some more shots, but couldn't seem to hit the net at all against Colorado. He will benefit significantly from the return of Hanzal and his normal linemates and role on the team shutting down the other team's top line while sniping on the power play. |
| Ray Whitney | |
Whitney also had a goal and assist against the Avs while playing over 23 minutes. Whitney is the biggest addition to the Coyotes roster since last year's team and hopefully he's the difference between another heart-breaking loss in the playoffs (assuming that they clinch tonight, or just in general). |
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Good job
Can’t say I disagree with anything. As a team overall, I wish the players without the puck would move around more when they are in their offensive zone and try and find some open ice. Especially on the PP.
Thanks...
As for the team moving around, they are definitely a grinding team that likes to work the cycle on the end boards, although I’m not sure we have the best personnel for that (kid line in particular). How they move around has improved greatly since Tippett took over, but some of that is the personnel. I continue to feel that the biggest issue the team has on the power play is a frustrating inability (not unwillingness) to make crisp tape-to-tape one touch passes that allow the puck to get to a player who has an opening to get a shot through to the net.
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I think the Coyotes move the puck well when they establish control on the PP
its the dump-in that I hate. The first thing you learn when you practice powerplay is to keep the puck off the boards once you have established control, but the Coyotes never seem to when they do a dump-in and the puck stays on the boards. This eats up time and ultimately leads to a clear. They alwasy seem to do much better going into the zone with speed and if they dump in, I like when Whitney and Stemp do a quick short dump to themselves as they can anticipate and beat everyone to the puck. Stemp does this the most but doesn’t get a whole lot of PP time, so usually by the time they establish control they get one good shot and its over. I wouldn’t mind Yandle just skting in either, when he gathers speed he seems to be hard to slow down and get the puck away from…
I have to say we're pretty lucky
Barring new injuries, most of our injured guys will return for playoffs, I think.
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