'Yotes season hotting up!
After last season's fairytale story in which the Coyotes managed a 4 th place finish overall in the regular season and entrance to the play-offs for the first time since 2002, you could be forgiven for thinking that they might struggle to repeat those achievements again this year. Indeed, the first part of this season was a difficult time for the Coyotes. They were struggling to find any rhythm and found it hard to win games. There were injuries too, most importantly to Captain Shane Doan, that had, until very recently, sidelined him for a good chunk of the opening games. Without their talismanic leader and without any chemistry, it is no wonder that the Coyotes went 4-4-3 in their opening 11 games. To compound their misery, they also went 0-5 on their first five overtimes until their shoot-out win over the Oilers on the 19th of November. However recently, and still for the most part without their captain, the Coyotes have re-found that hard working spirit and that team chemistry that led them to such a brilliant 2009/2010 season and are winning games again. Unlike the Washingtons or the Pittsburghs of the league, the 'Yotes can hardly claim to have two or three highly skilled forwards who are capable of winning games on their own such as Sidney Crosby, or Alex Ovechkin. What Phoenix do have is a group of players who all chip in to assist and score goals at different times. While that means the Coyotes may not get a 50 goals-per-year player, they will get several 20 or 30 goals-per-year players. They are a team in the truest sense of the word. After the recent 5-0 destruction of the very young and struggling Edmonton Oilers, the Coyotes find themselves on a seven game winning streak. In fact, they have registered at least a point in their last nine games. They are currently the hottest team in the NHL and have wins over Detroit, Chicago and Vancouver to boast about, the latter coming during the Coyotes' first sweep of Western Canada since the franchise relocated from Winnipeg in 1996.
More so than any other player, they have Ilya Bryzgalov to thank. He is continuing where he left off last season and is by far and away Phoenix's best player. His performances between the pipes have played a massive part in the Coyotes' current success. With last night's win, Bryzgalov registered his first shut-out of the season and, if he and the rest of the Coyotes keep playing the way they are, I can see him getting a few more. He has faced more shots than any other goalie in the NHL which does mean that he is keeping his team alive at certain times. While the Yotes' defence should work a little harder to restrict the shots against Bryzgalov, he is performing so well it doesn't seem to matter too much. Special mention should also go to Eric Belanger who has been a fantastic signing for Phoenix this season. The veteran centre has been scoring goals, setting them up and performing well in the face-off circle to boot. He has won around 55% of his face-offs, which puts him in the top 20 in the NHL. Belanger has also racked up the most time on ice for any Phoenix player and sits in second place in the team for the average time on ice per game. His hard work and ability is paying dividends for the Coyotes this season who are enjoying their best first quarter of a season since the franchise moved to the desert. With a quarter of the season gone, the Coyotes sit in second place in the Western Conference and lead the Pacific division. Could we see a second consecutive play-off appearance for this franchise for the first time in its history?
By: James Tennant > Find all of the NHL news & articles online from Pro Hockey Fans. |
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