Last night was one of those season changers you hope for when your team is going through a rough patch (such as five loses in a row and going from the top to the bottom of the playoff race). The game started out like any other. Neither team seemed to be playing better than the other but then… there it is. The softie. Bryz let in the softie. Ok, it’s just one goal you think. We can still win. We aren’t playing horribly. There is no revolviong door on the penalty box. And then suddenly Kyle Turris makes it 1-1 at the end of the first. You get a little excited. This is what we needed. We will come back in the second and kick some major butt!
But then the second happens and it ends 4-1. And not in your favor. The Red Wing fans are getting overly cocky which means the majority of them are becoming more and more douchey. Even the old ones. Usually they are nicer and crack jokes with you. It’s the younger and middle aged ones you gotta watch out for.
Oh but wait… these are the Coyotes. Do they lie down and die? Ohhhhh no. They come back for the third and score three goals. No big deal. It happens. Ray-Ray scores because like three of the Red Wing players are too busy trying to goad Doan into doing something stupid. His whole shift there were shoves and hounding him but he’s not stupid. He knew better than to take a penalty at that moment (unlike Hanzal who took a stupid penalty and I yelled at him for. He’s lucky the Wings didn’t score AND he got the tying goal later).
So, the Coyotes tie it up and go to overtime. At this point I was happy with just a point. Of course I wanted two but when you were down 4-1 at the start of the third, you should be thankful to get a point! But OT went on and no one scored. Freaking shoot out. Have I mentioned I hate shootouts. Thankfully Vrby goes back to his signature move and is able to get it past Howard. And Bryz was able to stop all three of Detroits shooters.
One thing I would like to see the Coyotes do more of is capitalize on opportunities. In some cases this means, try to lift the puck up to score. There were quite a few times were Howard (J Ho, Jimmy form the Block as I was calling him last night) was down low and there was lots of open net but we shoot low. Or he would be out of position but we would still be looking for the perfect shot. If he’s five feet away from the net, shoot it. What’s the worse that could happen? Oh yah, you pass it and then he gets back in position and stops your next shot.
There was a great shot of Bryz thanking the post from FSAZ last night…
At least who knows who to thank! (borrowed from Fox Sports twitpic)
A comeback win like that can do a lot for a team (and their fans) confidence. Going forward they need to channel this win and the momentum from it. With only 15 games left to play, the Coyotes need as many wins as they can get. They need confident Bryz back. They need to use this game to propel themselves to the top again. The can’t catch the Wings or Canucks but they can make it hard for teams like the Kings, Sharks and Stars. The race is just too tight right now. We can’t afford to make mistakes and we need to depend on other teams to do their part. 😉
Last night Shane Doan was honored for playing 1,099 games with the franchise. He now has the most NHL games played with the franchise. They did a nice video montage which had me tearing up. And the fans cheered when it showed his first game as a Coyote and the first game in Glendale Arena (now known as The Job). Shane Doan is one helluva guy and I am proud to have him be the captain of my team. His wife and children were present along with his parents. They presented him with his game worn jersey from that game and Fiddler, Yandle and Jovo presented him with a watch from the team. It was a nice little way to start the game.
Tuesday we play Vancouver at home. This is another game we need. Let’s keep up the momentum and just dominate from here on out. Work on no penalties and winning the little battle boys. I know you can win these games. 🙂
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