Sharks at Coyotes

Let me just start off by saying OMG Gretzky, pull your head out of your ass and be a coach. Don’t coach based on your “man crushes”. UGH

Basically Gretzky said that Telly would get the start (they even changed the article to take out where he said Telly would start). You know, the whole you get to play if your hot thing but what does he do? He starts Bryz. And our offense does a great job of kicking off the game with two goals. So the Coyotes are quickly up 2-0 and the Sharks take two shots on goal, and score. On both. Within about a minute of each other. OMG. But I do have to say, Gretzky was at least smart enough to pull Bryz at this point. In the past he has just kept him in.

This would have been a totally different game had Gretzky started Telly. It may have went the other way and the Coyotes could have ended up with a 2-1 win instead of a 3-2 loss. Telly has just been outstanding. So who gets the start against the Kings on Tuesday? Do we try Bryz again? Do we put Telly in? To me, this Kings game is crucial. The Sharks are the best team in the league and we hung in. The Kings are another story. I said at the end of last year the Kings would be the team to watch out for and it looks like I may be right.
But I digress…back to the Sharks game.

Best Part of the Game: Carcillo rocking JR into the bench. AMAZING.

Best Goal: KT getting his second goal of the season after a 19 game goalless streak. Let’s hope this gives him the extra boost he needs. He has been really battling and playing hard the last few games, now let the goals come.

Players who seemed off: Doan and Sauer. Neither of them played like they normally do, but they weren’t horrid. Just off.

Boneheaded move of the game: Jovo taking a stupid penalty after about 2 minutes of a 4 minute penalty to Joe Thornton. So, why are we playing Jovo so much on the PP? He makes bone headed mistakes, he gets caught not moving, he turns the puck over. Come on Jovo, you are being paid over 6 million per season, play like it. And Gretz? I know you can’t bench him, but don’t play him on the PP if he’s sucking. Don’t give him the ice time. Send him a message. Maybe send him a message in practice too because you know, if you practice lazy, you play lazy.

Best Dmen: Dmo (another goal) and Z. I don’t think I need to elaborate on Z. AMAZING.

Hockey Milestone of the Night: Rhino playing his 500th game. Congrats Rhino! He also played a great game. He was trying and battling through Sharks but like I said, Doan was just off last night and Rhino was trying to get something going but couldn’t.

Surprising Moment of the Night: Hanzal and Thornton going at each other. Hanzal has developed quite the mean streak.
Second Most Surprising Moment: Bods getting in the face of some dude at least 2-3 inches taller than him.

Rookie Mistake of the Game: Bods hesitating to shoot. He looked like he forgot how to. He stuttered so much by the time he did shoot the lane was clogged.

Underrated Dman (besides Z): Klee. He seems to have really made a difference in Yandle’s play.

Areas we need to work on: Winning face-offs, especially crucial ones.
Power Play, we can’t control the puck on the PP and spend most of the time in our own zone or at center ice.
Shooting. The last two games our SOG have been pathetic. You can’t score if you don’t shoot. What is it that Gretz said…You miss 100% of the shots you never take, meaning SHOOT MORE.

Player that was not missed: Jokinen. Would he have made any difference? Probably not. He didn’t show up for the last how many games we’ve played before he was injured. I think the last game he was really fully there for was when we played the Panthers.

And as an after thought, I like the colors and style/design of the new jersey but I cannot get past the logo. I do not like the leaping “coyote” (I use that word loosely as it looks more like a fox to me or a ferret according to the Coyotes Skate Coach). They could have done something so much more.

Up next we have the Kings on Tuesday. Like I said, team to watch. This may be a battle for us but I know the guys can do it.

Thursday the Maple Leafs come to town. I am not sure how this game will go. Toronto is currently in 10th place in the East. They have played the same amount of games (23) and have the same amount of points (22) as the Coyotes. They also play the Kings on Monday, Sharks on Tuesday and Coyotes on Thursday. This game could go either way.