Karl B DeBlaker - AP

Here little puck... go into zee glove...

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When the Coyotes twitter feed and Dave Strader told me pregame that there were going to be big changes to the lines that had gotten us to this point in the season I was worried. The first game of a 4 game roadtrip and you're going to start with all your lines jumbled? Seems fishy. However it turned out fantastically. While there was a bit of a learning curve for a few guys, overall everything was clicking. It helps when your goaltender in Ilya Bryzgalov is just vaccuming up every puck that comes his way too. 

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More photos » Paul Connors - AP

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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...

More photos » Ross Franklin - AP

about 1 month ago: Phoenix Coyotes' Matthew Lombardi, right, gets the puck before scoring against Edmonton Oilers' Jeff Deslauriers, middle, as Oilers' Shawn Horcoff (10) looks on in the first period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Feb. 8, 2010, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

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The game wasn't at all as lopsided in tempo or puck possession as the 6-1 score would have you believe, but the goaltending was awesome for the Coyotes with Ilya Bryzgalov making toe saves, glove saves, hitting the puck out of the air with his stick saves and everything in between. Edmonton's goaltending was just awful and their defense didn't really help that much. Jeff Deslauriers Got beaten by a couple good chances, but at least 3 of the goals against were just having his glove in the wrong place. He had eyes on the puck but did nada.

Matthew Lombardi had a career night with 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 total points a career high. Jim Vandermeer added his fourth of the year on a bouncing puck from the blueline. Radim Vrbata scored one nice goal on a breakaway chance in which he faked out Deslauriers and put it right past his skate as he lay prone on the ice. Robert Lang added a late goal on a fluke backhander that seemed like it went right through Deslauriers' chest. Dustin Penner unfortunately ended the shutout bid with less than five minutes remaining in the game as the Coyotes backed of the throttle and forgot that they actually had to play the rest of the game.

Several players left the game, all with various upper body injuries. Shane Doan got hurt in the second period and was wincing on the bench. Coyotes PR man Sergey Koncharov told fans via twitter that Doan seemed okay in the locker room after the game, but will be reevaluated tomorrow. Joel Perrault, a recent call up from San Antonio, left after a had hit into the boards that he didn't turn right on and Vernon Fiddler left, but I don't have details on what happened there. Dave Tippett said in the postgame that all the players at least played while they were hurt so the injuries shouldn't be to severe. Hopefully it was all precautionary with the team being up by so much late.

Comments of the night from SBN Oilers Site Copper and Blue:

Announcers
If we could combine Strader and Debrusk and drop Quinn and Nash, we might have something here.

-Derek Zona

If only. Debrusk was great in his time here when he did radio with Bob Heethus and the postgame shows on FSN.

What’s that thing Bryzgalov did where he put his body in front of the puck and it didn’t go in the net? Do we have any guys who can do that?

-Benjamin Massey

I think "Save" is the word you were looking for there.

Video Highlights courtesy of NHL.com

More photos » Frederick Breedon - AP

about 1 month ago: Phoenix Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, left, of Russia, is congratulated by right wing Shane Doan (19) after the Coyotes defeated the Nashville Predators 1-0 in a shootout in an NHL hockey game in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010. (AP Photo/Frederick Breedon)

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There weren't very many offensive highlights in Nashville tonight, but that didn't keep the Predators or the Coyotes from making this game as exciting as possible. Both Ilya Bryzgalov and Pekka Rinne made some incredible saves and both defenses played extremely well. Zbynek Michalek pulled on Nashville try out from the crease as it went toward the net as well pretty much saving the game as the game went 65 minutes without anyone getting a goal. That's the 4th time that's happened in the league this year, and the second time the Coyotes have been involved. (Also won against San Jose)

The shootout went practically the same way as the rest of the game. Lauri Korpikoski scored in the second round, but David Legwand would get the equalizer at the end of the 3rd round. Neither goalie would allow another score until Adrian Aucoin put a hard one past Rinne in the front part of the 10th round. Shea Weber missed the net completely on the following try to give the Coyotes their 5th straight win.

With the Sommet Center hosting a WWE event the night before the ice was apparently really bad all night and it showed. neither team could control the puck all that well and there were a lot of weak shots from the puck just not being where players figured it would be. After the game Adrian Aucoin actually said it was the worst ice he's played on in the whole time he's been in the NHL. From someone that's played in Phoenix and in Los Angeles, that's really saying something.

Vernon Fiddler played a great game in front of his former home crowd and was all over the ice. Peter Mueller was playing a much better game after being moved up into Scottie Upshall's first line slot. He was digging in the corners and actually skating really hard. Hopefully it's not a short term thing. Several opportunities on both sides were stopped by both goalies just being able to see the puck everywhere.

The Coyotes next play on Friday against the Chicago Blackhawks in Chicago.

More photos » Matt York - AP

New York Rangers goalie Chad Johnson, Daniel Girardi (5) and Aaron Voros look away as fans cheer Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Sami Lepisto's goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010 in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)

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The Coyotes had to go and make things interesting for the crowd at Jobing.com Arena tonight. However, in the end one period of solid play at both ends, a second period of good defense and a third where we tried to give the game away turned into a win.

The First was All Coyotes pretty much from the puck drop. Shane Doan powered through two Ranger defenders when he grabbed the lead pass out of the zone from Taylor Pyatt. He split the D and took a shot that even the Coyotes announce team thought Johnson had the save on, but it just squirted through the five hole putting the near-capacity crowd on their feet just six minutes into the game. It wouldn't take long for the Coyotes to strike again. Less than a minute later they turned a 3-on1 into aa goal as Practically the entire Lang-Boedker-Pyatt Line got behind the defense in a flash, I'm not sure how it happened, but the Rangers were just caught completely flat footed. Lang made an impressive pass to Mikkel Boedker who sped across the slot and put it past Johnson. Sami Lepisto got in on the scoring later in the period as he finally got one of his blasts to find the back of the net. It's Lepisto's first NHL goal and he's been trying really hard and had good chances. You could see how excited he was to have finally gotten one adding to the Coyotes impressive blueline offensive numbers.

The Second looked like a completely different game. The Coyotes were still playing defense, but the offense was completely gone. That despite having 8 minutes worth of power plays to try and score on. That's becoming a pretty big issue as if we want to be a serious contender in the post-season we're going to have to take advantage of our power play chances. Especially when we're just being handed them left and right. The Rangers though didn't fair much better as while they were able to generate some shots, Jason LaBarbera was able to make some clutch saves.

The wheels looked like they might have been coming off in the Third. Everything that the Coyotes had been doing right in the First was the exact opposite. They couldn't keep the puck in the zone, the passing got lazy, and guys were getting caught on their heels. Twice the Rangers were able to score thanks mostly to our own guys making simple errors that allowed odd-man chances. Marian Gaborik got on the board when the defensive unit tried to get off the ice on a dump in. The mistake though was that rather than being dumped in the Rangers blocked it and Ed Jovanovski tried to catch back up but Gaborik and Christianson got behind him and made a nice play to fake LaBarbera out. Avery later scored on a Jim Vandermeer turnover as he basically fell down on his own and the Rangers were off to the races again. The Rangers though hurt their own cause when Michael Rozival took a penalty late with a high stick on Petr Prucha. Gaborik would nail a post with the seconds winding down, but to no avail.

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