Just Beacause

I have been having some thoughts, so I thought I would do a random entry.

First off, why can the Coyotes not beat the Wild? What is it about them that makes it so difficult to win? Also, why do our players get so close to a hat trick and just can’t get that third goal? Maybe Backstrom is a tease. Last season, Carcillo had two goals and him and the team tried so hard to get him the third goal but Backstrom was having none of that. Then on Saturday, Jokinen got two goals but Backstrom said no to his (and the teams) attempts to get a third. It is like Backstrom has a magical forcefield that will not let more than two goals per player in. This is when it would be helpful for others on the team to start scoring.

Secondly, I have been looking for Jovo’s offense all season (we depended on it quite a bit last season) and it has been non-existent but he is still making all his little mistakes. He needs to balance out those mistakes by getting assists and goals or he is pretty much just worthless. He has been paired with DMo this season, so maybe that is the problem. He is being moved back to Z for tonights game. Although, I do feel sorry for Z. He finally gets a partner (Sauer) where he doesn’t have to stay at the blueline and doesn’t have to try and cover all the time and then Gretz’s puts him back with Jovo (see my fifth point for more on this topic).

Third, We play the Flames tonight in Calgary (I will do a post after the game, it’s so much easier to make notes during away games). We need to watch Iginla, Cam, and Dion. Those three were our down fall last time (ok and our lack of actually playing hockey). We need all our guys to show up tonight. We need Bryz to be the horse we know he can be. We need Jovo to get his offense going. Flames are always going to be a hard team for us to beat, but it can be done. We need to skate hard all three periods. We need to hit. We need to not let up (for one fraction of a second on Cam and Iginla). We need to fight. We need to score. It can (and will) be done. I have faith in my boys. Now, lets hope the line shuffling and D moves don’t mess anyone up (again, see fifth point) as Gretzy debuts some new lines and pairings tonight. Turris will be sititng out tonight (a view from the pressbox might not be a bad idea, worked for Mueller) and Murray was called up. This was probably a good move for the Calgary game. We need more toughness out there and well, Turris is not our toughest player.

Fourth, the Panthers come to town this Saturday. I am excited to see my boy Ballard. I have heard he is doing awesome in Florida, you know being the type of Dman he was meant to be, not being forced to be a shut down Dman (and yes, DMo and Telly messed up on the Nash goal too, you can’t blame just Ballard). Ballard is leading the Panthers in points with 10, 2 goals and 8 assists. In 11 games, almost a point per game. He is also a +/- +2. Way to go Ballard!

I haven’t heard much on Boynton but I am looking forward to seeing him. He always brings the toughness. Boynton has 5 points (2g, 3A) in 11 games.

It will also be interesting to see how Jokinen does against his former team.

I plan to get some pics of Ballard and Boynton during warmups. I miss my dmen.

Fifth, Gretzky has changed the lines yet again. I have no problem with rewarding hardwork (i.e. moving Fridge up to the first line for a couple of games) but seriously, let’s try lines out for more than one game. You might be surprised by the results. It will give the boys some time to click. Or heres an idea, if one person on the line isn’t working out, just change out that person.

The lines/pairings for Tuesday (stolen from Coyotes website):

Winnik-Hanzal-Tikhonov (I love this line. Unfortunately none of these guys have gotten a goal yet. All have worked hard and done great things for us though)

Doan-Jokinen-Mueller (I think Mueller is having a hard time his sophmore year. He seems to have regressed. He has stopped moving his feet again. Sophmore slump?)

Porter-Reinprecht-Boedker (Reinprecht to Porter was a great goal, maybe Wayne is hoping for more of that? Fast and defensively minded line)

Carcillo-Murray-Fedoruk (Pure toughness and with Carcillo, you got the goal scoring ability and Murray has the face off ability – could be lots of potential here)

Morris-Sauer (I loved this pairing in training camp, maybe it will make Morris use his cannon more)

Jovanovski-Michalek (Poor Z but if it gets Jovo some offense, I’m all for it)

Hale-Klee (hrmmmm, I did like what I saw of Klee the last two games. I like Hale and want him to do well but I feel he just shows us flashes of what he can do and isn’t consistant. At least it’s better than Yandle – apologies to all my readers that like Yandle, no offense meant to you, I just don’t think Yandle is there yet)

I apologize for any spelling and/or grammatical errors. I did this post on my lunch hour and didn’t really edit it. I may correct when I get home from work, but I may not. If you don’t like that, too bad.

P.S. For all those Americans out there.. I hope you did your civic duty and voted. I did which gives me the right to complain for the next 4 years. If you did not vote, I don’t want to hear any complaints from you! 🙂