Game Re-Cap, Coyotes 6, Detroit 3

I don’t even know where to start with my write up about last night’s game. I didn’t get much sleep but I am still all hyped up from the win and maybe the three cups of coffee I had this morning…maybe.

The Coyotes have not won in the last 9 games (since March of 2006) against the Red Wings (this was the stat I saw on tv last night – sometimes at games I sit where I can watch the tv broadcast). This was a well deserved win and a much needed win.

This game was big in many ways, something the Detroit fans don’t seem to grasp. They seem to think that the season starts in April. Let them think that, I will take all the points and do a little victory dance. I want all the points we can get and I want them allllll season long! This win placed the Coyotes alone in the 5th spot (it also didn’t hurt that Vancouver and the Ducks lost last night!). Our team played a full 60 minutes of our game. The Wild and Wings were two teams we could not figure out and were finally able to do so at least once this season. The boys need to see that they are good. They need to know they can beat these teams. It’s a confidence thing. We know they have the skill. We know they can beat any team they want, but do the boys know that? This game should go a long way in them seeing what they can do and believing in themselves.

I’ve noticed our PP is starting to look much better these last few games, last night included. We still have a problem winning face-offs, which is hurting our PP. We start the PP chasing after the puck; definitely need to still work on the face-offs in order to help the PP.

Another thing that really lights a fire under our guys is the other team taking a few liberties with Turris. Early on the red wings made some questionable plays on Turris and Carcillo stepped in to tell those wing players to watch it. That really seemed to spark our whole team. I am still sticking to the Carcillo-Turris-Stevie G line being one of the better ones out there.

It was nice to see we held Detroit scoreless in 5 on 5 play. Their goals all came on PP. One was a 5 on 3 that should have never happened. There were a lot of ghost calls on the Coyotes and a lot of “missed” calls on Detroit. It was like the refs wanted the wings to win it. Luckily our guys were able to battle back and take the win.

Some other info on the game:

Winnik was a healthy scratch for the Coyotes. Will he be sent back to SA again? Will he be a healthy scratch in Phoenix for the rest of the season? Will he be able to return to the Winnik of last season? So many questions there…

Detroit fans threw two small octopuses on the ice after two of their goals. After Lisin scored the empty netter, sealing the win, a much larger octopus was chucked on the ice in front of the Coyotes bench. Carcillo skated over and looked like he really wanted to fling it at a wings fan; instead he took it over and deposited on his bench, much to the chagrin of his teammates. I think it would have been hilarious if he flipped back into the crowd (not hitting any Coyotes fans of course).

Klee played his 900th career game last night. I heart Klee. He has really done well this season and has stepped up even more in Sauer’s absence.

The Coyotes honored two Cardinal players last night, showing once again what a classy organization they are.

Coyotes goals compliments of (in order scored): DMo (1st period), Yandle, Jokinen (2nd Period), and Jovo, Lisin, Lisin (3rd period). Last night at the arena, they changed one of the goals to David Hale. I believe it was the Jovo goal listed here.
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In other news, Stevie G was sent back to SA. I am hoping this is just to give him some playing time during the All-Star break and that he will be back next Tuesday for the Ducks game.

If not, I would suspect a call-up for one of the other guys doing well down there. But like I said earlier, the Carcillo-Turris-Stevie G has some really good chemistry and Carcillo is playing more like last years Carcillo. I suspect the goals and assists are going to start coming for that boy now. Why mess with a good thing? Oh wait, we are talking about Gretzky here. These lines have been together for a few games…time to switch ‘em up!