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WCSF: Phoenix Coyotes @ Nashville Predators: Take The Show On The Road

By Carl Pavlock
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Tomorrow night at 6 p.m. Arizona time the Phoenix Coyotes will face off against the Nashville Predators at the Bridgestone Arena. The Yotes currently lead the series 2-0 after two wins at home, and they were especially dominate in the last game which was a 5-3 victory. If the Coyotes can continue to build off the momentum and get a win tomorrow they will be in an excellent position in this series. Its also worth noting that Nashville has suspended Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn for Game 3 due to violating "team rules." Radulov may not have been playing his best hockey as of late, but Kostitsyn has had goals in the past 2 games, it will be interesting to see how Nashville plays without these two.

Five For Winning

  1. Foot on the gas for a full 60 minutes. One of the problems that the Coyotes had in the first game was they slowed down and played a more defensive third period. The second game didn't have that, they played a hard and fast game for all 3 periods keeping the game in regulation.
  2. Discipline. Nashville was great on the power play during Game 2, it was one of the few things they could be proud of, if the Yotes don't take any penalties they aren't going to have to worry about Nashville's power play.
  3. Always answer back. Every time the Predators scored the Coyotes answered back and scored again to preserve their lead. The Coyotes really need to do this again, either to preserve a lead if they have one or tie the game.
  4. Shoot everything. Pekka Rinne is probably shaken up after the last two losses, any goal that the Coyotes score is going to rattle him even more, and the best way to score goals is to put lots of pucks on net.
  5. Win the faceoff. Faceoffs can really affect the game more than anything else. You will an offensive zone faceoff and you get a scoring chance, you lose a defensive zone faceoff and they get a scoring chance. Remember the Coyotes won Game 1 after winning a faceoff in overtime.
Key Players

Antoine Vermette

#50 / Left Wing / Phoenix Coyotes

6-1

199

Jul 20, 1982

G A P +/- PIM
2011 - Antoine Vermette 11 26 37 -13 28
Antoine Vermette may have not done much in the regular season but he was very good against the Blackhawks during the first series. So far he has been playing good against the Predators, 1 goal and 2 assists, hopefully he can continue to shine in the off-season.

Patric Hornqvist

#27 / Right Wing / Nashville Predators

6-0

188

Jan 01, 1987

G A P +/- PIM
2011 - Patric Hornqvist 27 16 43 9 28
Patric Hornqvist has been pretty steady in the series against the Coyotes. He is tied for the scoring leader with 3 points, 2 assists in Game 1 and a goal in Game 2.

Likely Starting Goalies

Mike Smith

#41 / Goalie / Phoenix Coyotes

6-4

215

Mar 22, 1982

GP MIN W L EGA GA GAA SA SV SV% SO
2011 - Mike Smith 67 3903 38 18 144 2.21 2066 1922 .930 8

Pekka Rinne

#35 / Goalie / Nashville Predators

6-5

209

Nov 03, 1982

GP MIN W L EGA GA GAA SA SV SV% SO
2011 - Pekka Rinne 73 4169 43 18 166 2.39 2153 1987 .923 5

Injuries

Phoenix Coyotes Injuries

Questionable

Player Injury Type Injury Date
Lauri Korpikoski undisclosed 05/01/2012

Nashville Predators Injuries

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player Injury Type Injury Date
Brian McGrattan other-excused 02/05/2012

Remember to come back here tomorrow for the game day thread and you can head over to On the Forecheck for their side of the story.

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