Phoenix Coyotes Week in Review: Valley Confidential

Game 38: vs. Colorado Avalanche (Phoenix 3, Colorado 1) 12/31/08

This game saw the Coyotes play one of their best defensive games of the season, allowing mostly easy shots to find their way to Tellqvist, who saved 28 of 29 shots he faced in the game. This was beneficial, considering that primary goalie Ilya Bryzgalov has been scratched the last two games with a sore back.

Peter Mueller also continued his revenge tour after his 21 game goalless streak was snapped. He scored two goals against the Avs in a span of 2:05.

“As soon as you get one they come in bunches,” said Mueller. “You know, you’re not going into every game thinking this is going to be the game. You go in with a little more confidence knowing you can do it. So I just am going to put it behind me and hope it never happens again.”

The Avalanche have been in the desert each of the past two years and three of the last four years on New Year’s Eve.

Game 39: vs. New York Islanders (Phoenix 5, New York 4) 1/2/09

In a game that featured a unique piece of NHL history, the Coyotes beat the Islanders 5-4 in front of a raucous crowd at Jobing.com Arena.

Shane Doan and Olli Jokinen both scored goals for the ‘Yotes, and Tellqvist picked up another victory while filling in for Ilya Bryzgalov.

The story of the night, however, was Doug Weight. He became only the eighth US born player to get 1,000 career points, on an assist to Richard Park with 28 seconds left in the game. The crowd at the Job gave him a standing ovation for the achievement, in a display of what makes hockey fans unique from other fans.

For the Isles, Josh Bailey scored his first career goal, and Sean Bergenheim also scored in the contest. The other Coyotes goals were scored by Joakim Lindstrom, Viktor Tikhonov, and Zbynek Michalek.

The win was important to the Coyotes, because they can go into their skate tonight against the Ducks with a momentum boost.

“We knew coming into this game this was almost a must-win for us,” Michalek said. “We have a tough game Sunday on the road and we wanted to go there with two points and confidence.”

In one final note about the game, the Coyotes fans showed that they aren’t “passive bystanders” in the context of the game, when Tim Jackman of the Isles socked Tellqvist across the mask with his stick after a whistle, and then was hugely booed for the rest of the game every time he touched the puck. Who said that desert dwellers don’t care about hockey?

Transaction Wire:

• With the back injury to Bryzgalov, the Coyotes recalled G Josh Tordjman from San Antonio of the AHL on December 31st.
• Assigned center Daniel Winnik to San Antonio of the AHL for conditioning on January 1st, and also assigned G Josh Tordjman to San Antonio the same day.

The Week Ahead:

The Coyotes have a busy week ahead of them, with games against some really solid teams.

They play the Ducks in Anaheim on Sunday at 6pm MST, and then they conclude the week with three straight home games.

They take on the Blackhawks at 7pm MST on Tuesday, the Lightning at 7pm MST on Thursday, and the Stars at 7pm MST on Saturday. The Hawks and Stars games can be seen on Fox Sports Net Arizona. Tickets are still available to all three of these home contests.