Game Preview
After just under a week at home, the Arizona Coyotes are back on the road for the next week and a half. That road trip starts tonight against the St. Louis Blues.
We are twelve games into the season and are starting to get a decent idea of who the 2022-23 Coyotes are. They have a decent power play and an awful penalty kill. They can play a tight game, but they have a problem finishing teams when they have the chance. They are good against teams better than them but don’t necessarily play their best against teams that should be on their level.
We saw some of that in the Coyotes’ 4-3 shootout win over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday. The Coyotes scored power play goals on two of their four opportunities but also gave one up. The Coyotes only had a lead once during the game, and Seattle tied it up 58 seconds later. It was an extremely tight team against a team that was one point lower than the Desert Dogs in the standings.
And tonight, the Coyotes will be facing off against another team close to them in the standings. The St. Louis Blues are currently sixth in the Central Divison, two points back of the Coyotes, with a game in hand.
The Blues last played on Tuesday, a 5-2 loss to the Jets. The Jets scored on two of their three power play opportunities, while the Blues couldn’t convert on their single opportunity.
St. Louis has had an interesting few weeks since they lost 6-2 to the Coyotes on October 19th. They are 4-4-0 with wins over the Pittsburgh Penguins, Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, and Montréal Canadiens. All but two of the games had the winning team scoring at least three goals more than their opponent.
The three-goal buffer is surprising because the Blues do not score a lot of goals. They are 29th in the NHL in goals scored with 26 goals in 11 games, averaging 2.36 goals per game. They don’t give up a lot of goals, though. With 32 goals against, they are 12th in goals against.
Special teams played a deciding factor the last time the Coyotes and Blues met and likely will again tonight. The Coyotes scored three power play goals on four chances, making it one of their better nights with the man advantage. St. Louis only had two power play opportunities, meaning the Coyotes were very disciplined, and the Yotes killed off both. If the Yotes want history to repeat themselves, that is the game plan: stay disciplined and make the Blues pay for any penalties they take.
Players to Watch
Arizona: Clayton Keller – If there is one player who always brings his A-game against the St. Louis Blues, it is Clayton Keller. He had a goal and an assist in his last game against the Kraken and had a goal and an assist the last time these two teams met.
St. Louis: Robert Thomas – Thomas may have been held off the scoresheet against the Coyotes, but he comes into tonight’s game riding a four-game goal streak. He had one of the Blues’ two goals in their last game.
Injuries
Arizona: Jason Zucker (IR)
St. Louis: Joshua Jacobs (IR)
Puck Drop
Tonight’s game will be in St. Louis with a 6:00 p.m. start time. It will air on Scripps.