Coyotes Lose to Wild
The Phoenix Coyotes win streak ends at four games as they were not able to return to the high tempo forechecking scheme that they have employed. The Wild found ways to clog up the neutral zone and capitalize on critical turnovers to place a strangle hold on the young Coyotes team embarking on their first extensive road trip outside of the Pacific Division.
The first period found the Coyotes holding their own against the Wild as both teams were held off the scoreboard. Both teams skated hard and the Coyotes competed evenly against the Wild hockey club that has had difficulty winning at home as of late.
However, the tide turned at the second period. The Wild turned on their offensive forecheck and after a puck ricocheted off of Mattias Tjarnqvist in front of the Coyotes’ net, Wild’s Stephane Veilleux shot the puck behind Ilya Bryzgalov for their first lead of the evening.
The Wild scoring did not stop there. After a costly turnover at the Wild’s blueline by Steven Reinprecht, Marian Gaborik found himself alone on a breakaway chance and deked Bryzgalov out of position for the Wild’s second goal of the evening. It was Gaborik’s third breakaway of the period and even though Bryzgalov stopped the previous two, the last one was too much for him to handle.
Radim Vrbata extended his goal streak to three games with his ninth goal of the season from a slap shot from Derek Morris that Vrbata was able to deflect past Wild netminder Niklas Backstrom. Unfortunately, the scoring for the Coyotes ended there and the Wild extended their lead to three goals in the third period with a tally by 19 year-old James Sheppard.
Craig Weller almost had the goal that would have tied the contest at two, but the puck and the coordination for Weller did not cooperate and he missed the chance. One would think that head coach Wayne Gretzky, legendary goal scorer of the NHL, would blow a gasket after the failed chance by Weller. Instead, we saw Gretzky smile and laugh on the bench trying to keep his troops positive when the Coyotes could not come up with an answer for the Wild’s strangling defense and the game was still close 2-1 in favor of the Wild.
Even though the Coyotes lost, there were some positive moments. Two of the goals that went in on Bryzgalov were a product of some fortunate series of events. The Wild capitalized on their chances and the Coyotes could not. In the past, the team would implode and the score would have easily gotten out of hand. However, Bryzgalov and the Coyotes kept their cool and the score close.
The Coyotes though lost the turnover and puck possession battle. Thanks to solid goaltending, the score was still in reach, but against the Wild tonight, it wasn’t enough. They will have to improve on that aspect against the Chicago Blackhawks Friday night.
The Blackhawks with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are an improved group and in front of Nikolai Khabibulin, they are confident as well. There is a resurgence in Chicago and it should be a good test for the Coyotes.
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