One Fan's Perspective

During the pre-game show of FSN Arizona Monday night, my wife and I became sort of nostalgic.  The Coyotes faced the Tampa Bay Lightning, and we followed that team closely.  When we lived in Florida, we saw every game, for better and for worse, and when it became better, the results were awesome.

In 2003, we saw the Lightning survive the first round of the playoffs and move on, only to get eliminated in the second.  In 2004, they won the Stanley Cup.  In 2004-2005, there was a work stoppage and we arrived in Arizona during the summer of 2005 to adopt the home team as our own.  We still kept tabs on the crew out East, and learned through painful experience that after that Cup run, they became a shell of its former self.

The connections between the two clubs were somewhat tangential.  Former Coyotes assistant coach John Tortorella was the head coach of the Lightning and turned that ship right around, and the goaltender of record for both playoff runs (inluding the Cup run of 2004) was Nikolai Khabibulin.

As expected, after winning the Stanley Cup, his contract was up and he wanted a pay raise.  Unfortunately, he had competition between three young players and a savvy defenseman (Vinny Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards, and Danny Boyle respectively).

Now, the Bolts are not the same club.  It seems that Steven Stamkos is the goal scorer and Lecavalier and St. Louis are struggling to put the puck in the net.  Welcome to aging boys, it’s hell, eh?

Believe it or not, as fun as it is to wax nostaligic over times gone by, the purpose of today’s thought processes are truly not related to the Lightning.  Rather, it’s the goalter Khabibulin.

When Khabibulin went to the Lightning, his preparation routine was coffee and cigarrettes before the game.  Someone over there (Jeff Reese perhaps) drilled some sense into the often quizzical netminder to get healthy or get prepared to be shipped out.  He had a bad stretch of games during his Cup run, but got it together at the right time.

Now, after leaving the goaltending carousel in Chicago, he finds himself in Edmonton, playing with the Oilers franchise with an incredible history.  He might have been one answer for their aspirations for another visit in the Stanley Cup Finals.  Plus, it would have been pretty cool to see him play yet again against the club he shared the goaltending load with many seasons ago.

Unfortunately, it may not happen.  It looks like Khabibulin has back issues…and is day-to-day missing his start against the Blackhawks on Sunday.

The Desert Dogs are 13 – 9 -1 and the Oilers are 9 – 11 – 3; I bet most of the world would have thought those records would be reversed with the Coyotes taking more of the worst of it.  Hopefully, they will continue their hard work and good fortune continues for them with their own Battle of Alberta.

If you are looking for some pre-game material, this is what I’ve read today:

Tags: Edmonton Oilers, Hockey, John Tortorella, NHL, Nikolai Khabibulin, Phoenix Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning by pbcoyotes
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The Phoenix Coyotes have two extremely critical, important, huge games tonight and Tuesday night. In order to keep their fading playoff hopes alive, picking up all four points in regulation is the only option.

And if they play like they did Saturday night, they will not have a chance because rest assured that the dangerous Vancouver Canuck team will be gunning for them. Fully expect the desperation on both sides to boil over and if the Coyotes keep their wits about them, they could pull it off.

The parity among the middle teams in the Western Conference still holds strong as the Minnesota Wild and the Dallas Stars have been decidedly average in their current stretch of ten games. The Wild hold the third seed by virtue of leading their division in spite of the Anaheim Ducks having more points. Gotta love the Pacific Division!

The good news for the Coyotes that even though they have been a .500 hockey club in their last ten, so have the Canucks. However, the Canucks have a great record at home as the Coyotes have a great record on the road. Something has to give.

The hot team in the pack with the Coyotes are the Colorado Avalanche as they have gone an amazing 8-2. The San Jose Sharks have earned points in every game in their last ten, but they currently have 90 points and lead the division – catching them is not an option, but catching the other teams may be a possibility.

What will it take? For starters, winning these next two games would absolutely help. Plus, taking care of the Los Angeles Kings at home would continue the process. But it gets tougher.

The Coyotes have shown they can play well against the elite teams, but they must beat those out of contention. Good teams play up to their opposition; playoff teams eliminate the rest. If the Coyotes want a shot, stealing a win against Vancouver and eliminating the Oilers and the Kings are the only options here.

Tags: Edmonton Oilers, Hockey, NHL, Phoenix Coyotes, Vancouver Canucks by pbcoyotes
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The Phoenix Coyotes lost Thursday night against the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 and the Oilers losing streak stops at four games.

The Coyotes’ effort was there on the ice. The fired 39 shots at Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson and he put on a terrific performance. In the first period, the Coyotes went on a power play and they fired everything they could at him but Roloson stood tall, even without his stick. If the Coyotes could have scored there, the momentum could have stayed with the team longer.

Six minutes into the game, Raffi Torres scored the first goal and gave the Oilers their first lead of the night. Ales Hemsky was credited with an assist, and for both players, it wouldn’t be their last goals and assists of the night.

It looked though that the Coyotes would bounce back, especially after Peter Mueller scores his first goal of his NHL career on a power play chance in the second period.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vXB7GIrx8]

Mueller answers the call after being a healthy scratch on Saturday night against the Wild and his rest away from the game paid off for him. He had increased energy and played aggressively with the puck. Wayne Gretzky had him on the ice in important situations at the end of the game. His TOI was 10:30, but the bulk of his shifts came in the third period.

Hopefully, now he will have confidence in his game.

The Oilers would answer later in the second on a goal by Kyle Brodziak, but Mike Zigomanis would answer in the third period with a beautiful goal, lifting the puck over Rolson to tie the game at two apiece.

However, Raffi Torres and Ales Hemsky punish the Coyotes once more on a fluke goal where the initial shot rebounded right to Torres’ stick and the puck slipped by Alex Auld.

Auld’s first goal that he allowed was the only soft one. The other two he didn’t have a chance to stop the shot from going past him. The Coyotes made two critical errors that led to the scoring chances and the Oilers capitalized.

At first glance, the Coyotes looked like they would hand the Oilers their fifth defeat in a row, but the outstanding goaltending performance by Roloson would not allow that to happen. Roloson, Torres, and Hemsky were the Oilers’ best players.

Unfortunately for the Coyotes, they come up against an important game against the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night. Their current record is 2-4 and a loss against the Red Wings would put them three games below .500. The team is well aware of that statistic, and after the Red Wings, they face the Anaheim Ducks in an important divisional match up.

The positive aspects to Thursday night’s game was the effort of the Coyotes. They skated hard and did everything possible to win but once again they were up against a goaltender who put on a stellar performance. They competed to win and kept their mistakes to a minimum.

However, there are areas to improve, notably the veterans from the top line really need to begin scoring. After a strong first game, Keith Ballard has looked really tentative on the ice and taking some unique chances in moving the puck to his forwards. Ballard is not known as a passive player and he needs to return to his forceful game he exhibited against the St. Louis Blues.

Tags: Edmonton Oilers, Hockey, NHL, Phoenix Coyotes by pbcoyotes
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