Road to the Playoffs thread

[coyoteshockeyfan]

9-1... Morrison is showing why last season he was placed on waivers by a team with horrid goaltending.

 

[Nasser22]

9 goals? I guess Joseph is really showing his age. Better hope LeNeveu, if he's still on the team, turns out to be good.

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

9 goals? I guess Joseph is really showing his age. Better hope LeNeveu, if he's still on the team, turns out to be good.

Seven of the goals were against Joseph. I didn't get to see the first three, but of the remaining 4, three were heavily screened/deflected, great shots and I doubt that many goaltenders would have had a chance. One was just a bad tending effort - leaving the post too early.

The one that I saw on Morrison was a great redirection. No chance unless Morrison was a poor goaltender (not where he should have been) or could see the future.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

That was one of the worst games I have ever seen the Coyotes play last night. The most glaring problem last night in my opinion was the neutral zone play. The Coyotes let the Wings walz into their own zone uncontested and set up their offense under little to no pressure, and there is no excuse for that. This defense is a whole lot better than to allow that garbage to happen all night. On the flip side, the Coyotes couldn't get into their offensive zone to save their lives, even on the power play. If Phoenix wants to go anywhere this season, they need to control the neutral zone more.

The team was just completely stagnant last night. Nobody would move around whatsoever, neither on offense or defense. The Coyotes need to be a vastly more mobile team than they showed last night. Defense in general needs to tighten up and be more aggressive. It is supposed to be by far our biggest strength and we haven't seen it yet. However, the forwards need to learn that they can't spectate on defense either. The team managed to cut down on the penalties, but once again the penalty kill was non-existant.

To pick on individual players, Ladislav Nagy ever since opening night sure hasn't looked like a player that wants a big UFA check next summer. Last night for Nagy: over 19 minutes and a grand total of ZERO shots. You can't place too much blame on the goaltenders last night as several of the goals they had no chance on but both still looked like garbage last night. Jovanovski had a goal but he needs to play better in the defensive zone and earn his $6.5M paycheck. I've already seen enough of Fischer, its time to give somebody else a try.

As for the few positives from last night, Zbynek Michalek was our one good defenseman. He played for 21 minutes, blocked 4 shots, and wound up a +1 for the night (which is amazing in a 9-2 loss). Keith Yandle played pretty tentatively (ie: he looked like a rookie) but didn't play poorly given the circumstances. Amazingly, he ended up with an even +/- in nearly 20 minutes last night.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Tonight's game against Nashville is on AZ-TV at 5pm. Sjostrom will play on the top line with Reino and Doan (a line that had great success last season). Comrie has been moved back to center where he belongs and will play with Nagy and Nolan. Lisin will make his debut playing with Scatchard and Roenick. Hopefully the changes will help spark the team, they really need it.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

5 freaking games in a row the Coyotes give up the early goal. 1-0 Nashville

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Reino out with a shoulder injury - will not return. Dont know how that happened.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

First period thoughts:
5 games and 5 early goals against. I can't recall any time that has ever happened before, but its getting ridiculous. Kariya had an open net and there was nothing Cujo could do about it. Our defense has to be more aggressive. Not much Joseph could do on the Erat goal, Erat was all alone, lost the puck on his skate, regained control in a bizarre manner and put it around Joseph.

The Coyotes had a big 5-on-3 penalty kill and if they blew it there this game could have been another long one. Hopefully the power play wakes up after that Sjostrom goal late in the second. It wasn't a pretty power play but it got the job done. Yandle had a great assist on the goal, he made the defenseman commit to him before sliding it to Sjostrom. Great play by the rookie. Nolan doesn't look very good out there, I wouldn't be surprised to see him lose ice time to Sjostrom or Lisin in the near future.

2-1 Nashville after one period.

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

I figured when you didn't post the final, CHF, they must have lost (and they did, of course, 4-1). What sucks is when the two worst teams get together and yours ends up getting blown out.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

The bad news just keeps coming... Gretz speculates that Reinprecht will be out for about a month, but they aren't quite sure yet.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/1015coyotesnb1015.html

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

I knew the schedule for the start of the season was going to be brutal, but this needs to turn around quickly. As for last nights game, it was basically just like all the others. Give up the early goal, play respectable for the rest of the first, then have a garbage second period, followed by a respectable yet too little too late third period. Gretz made a few tactical errors with the way he played Laraque last night. He tried to match up Laraque with Hordichuk but instead Nashville took advantage and sent out Kariya's line whenever Laraque was on the ice. The result: Laraque manages a staggering -3 in only 7 minutes played. He was on the ice for all three of Nashville's even strength goals, you can't be any bigger of a liability than that.

For the second game in a row, Ladislav Nagy takes exactly zero shots on goal. That is over 40 minutes of ice time, and zero shots. That just boggles my mind why our top offensive player either can't or won't shoot the puck. There is definately something wrong with Nagy and if things continue as they are he will be shipped out at the trade deadline (or even sooner).

Keith Yandle had a strong game, and Jovo looks like he may have woken up. Fredrik Sjostrom played really well, and we need somebody to step up offensively if guys like Nagy and Comrie are going to float out there. I frankly would not be surprised to see both of them gone at the trade deadline (when their value is at its highest) if the Coyotes are out of it, but that is a long, long time from now. I didn't think the defense played that poorly (although the defensive play of some of the forwards was atrocious), Cujo has to make a couple of those saves.

Coyotes play Tuesday in St. Louis. A win and you are 2-4 which isn't so bad given the opponents and the roadtrip. A loss and you are 1-5 and could be in for a very tough season.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

And one more thing, I am still absolutely livid that Joseph was completely run over by a Nashville player with no call. The guy (it may have been Jordin Tootoo) crashed straight into our goaltender while on a Nashville power play without any outside interference and didn't even try to avoid Joseph, yet the refs look the other way. Nashville scores later on that same power play to go up 3-1 which was the turning point of the game. I am not blaming the refs for the loss, but how something so blantant and dangerous can happen without a whistle is lost on me, especially since Nagy was called on a ticky-tack goalie interference call later in the game.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Coyotes are winning in St. Louis tonight 2-1 after two periods. Roenick got his first point as a Coyote (well, this time around) assisting on Doan's second goal of the season. Enver Lisin notches his first NHL point setting up Scatch. The Coyotes have outshot the Blues 22-13 so far and by the sound of it have been playing solid defense (finally).

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Alright! It feels good to put something in the win column!

Owen Nolan scores his first for the Coyotes, Comrie and Doan each had a goal and an assist tonight, and Nagy had two assists. Zigomanis adds an empty netter and the final tally is 5-2.

 

[PDXChris]

I have a feeling this team on the verge of a nice win streak. If seams like payers are starting to click, now the click needs to click. Does anyone else feel that is as well?

 

[MigratingOsprey]

dallas on saturday will be tough - my sharks just tangled with them last night, and they looked really good - defense was solid and they can burst on offense

look forward to watching that one this weekend

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Tonights game against the Kings is on FSN and will be broadcast in HD. If you've never seen hockey in HD before, check it out, its one of the sports that benefits the most from an HD quality broadcast.

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 3-0 Kings after one.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

After Thursday's shutout loss, Gretzky sent all of his players a warning:

"Some guys are going to come out (of the lineup) that probably don't expect to come out."

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/1020coyotesnb1020.html

We're only seven games into the season and I'm already running out of positives. Our scorers arent scoring, our defense has been a nightly disappointment, not to mention the lackluster goaltending. You're in for a disaster if you can't stay out of the box nor kill a penalty. 57 penalty minutes last night. 57! Take away the two misconduct penalties that didn't affect the man power situation and you are still at 37 penalty minutes for the night, or nearly two periods. The Kings came into the game with one of the worst power plays in the game and walked out with 4 power play goals, including converting their first three opportunities to essentially put the game away early.

Dennis Seidenberg has been such a liability in his own zone, he needs to turn it around fast or else Matt Jones will take his job. He had a horrible miscue on one of the power plays in the first that led to an easy goal. I've seen all I have wanted to of Mike Morrison. He was terrible again tonight and is showing why Edmonton dumped him (even though they were starved for goaltending at the time). It is time to see what LeNeveu can do. If LeNeveu isn't any better, then Barnett needs to get the Sabres on the phone and ask about Martin Biron. Cujo obviously isn't going to last for much longer, and the Coyotes need a plan as to who will be their goalie next season and beyond.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Somebody please just score a goal...

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

I think this game can be summed up with pretty much one stat... the trio of Nagy, Comrie, and Doan combined for a grand total of one shot tonight. When your three best offensive guys can't or won't even shoot the puck, you aren't going to score very much. Simple as that.

 

[PDXChris]

I think this game can be summed up with pretty much one stat... the trio of Nagy, Comrie, and Doan combined for a grand total of one shot tonight. When your three best offensive guys can't or won't even shoot the puck, you aren't going to score very much. Simple as that.

I just got back form the game. Horrible, horrible performance. Dallas looked tired and slow, but the Coyotes looked uninspired. 2 things that were encouraging are that Enver Lisin looks and moves fast and getting a lot of ice time and will start lighting up the net when others give him some help, but he and JR looked like the only ones putting any effort and that the is second thing I liked, JR looked young.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Well, that was depressing.

Looks like "the defense might be good, but who's gonna score" question was a good one.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Well, that was depressing.

Looks like "the defense might be good, but who's gonna score" question was a good one.

The aggrivating thing is that the defense hasn't been very good either. Jovo looks like a horrific waste of $32M.

 

[HooverDam]

I was at the Stars game tonight as well, absolutely pathetic. The Coyotes just looked like they didn't care, no energy, really sad effort.