Hooked on Phoenix: Coyotes Week In Review (1/11—1/18)

The Phoenix Coyotes had an up and down road trip this week. Their four games were all against good teams, and they split them down the middle, going 2-2-2.

Gone from a week ago were their goal-scoring woes.

After only scoring three goals in the previous week, the team managed 14 goals in their four games—including scoring four against Niklas Backstrom, which is an accomplishment in of itself.

Game 44: at Minnesota Wild 1/13/09

The Coyotes went into their game on Tuesday against the Wild not having experienced much luck in their matchups against the Minnesota franchise. This, unfortunately, continued as the Wild beat the Coyotes 6-3 in a game that saw a furious comeback by the Desert Dwellers.

The Coyotes were down 3-0 to start the game, then Joakim Lindstrom scored to move it to 3-1. The Wild responded 34 seconds into the third period and made it 4-1.

A goal by Olli Jokinen made it 4-2 just 22 seconds later, and then Steven Reinprecht added to his earlier assist and scored to bring the score to within one. The Wild pulled away late, adding two more goals to seal the game.

“We had too many guys who tried to play on the outside,” Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. “Minnesota played hard and played harder than we did.”

Shane Doan added two assists in the game, giving him 38 points in his last 38 games.

Reinprecht also must enjoy playing against the Wild, because his goal and assist made for his first multi-point game since December 11, which was a home game against this same team.

Game 45: at Vancouver Canucks (1/15/09)

It was a happy night in the host city of the 2010 Winter Olympics, but the mood turned sour quickly once the puck dropped.

After going 9-12-3 in his absence, the Canucks added Roberto Luongo back into the fold on this Thursday night. He did, however show some sings of rust, as Joakim Lindstrom rudely welcomed Luongo back to the NHL with two goals in a 4-1 Phoenix victory.

Lindstrom’s first goal came a little over a minute into the game, when he beat Luongo from just inside the right circle on the game’s first shot.

Shane Doan added another two assists in the contest, and Keith Yandle had a goal and assist. Peter Mueller also had a power play goal to seal the deal for the Coyotes.

After the game, Yandle said of Luongo “he was battling a groin injury, so we just tried to get him to move all night and just get as many pucks on him as we could.”

The game was also a homecoming for Kyle Turris, as this was his first game in his hometown of Vancouver since he was drafted by the Coyotes with the third pick in 2007. He had an assist in the game, and had a lot of family in attendance.

Game 46: at Calgary Flames (1/17/09)

Any time a team goes into the Pengrowth Saddledome to play the Flames, they have to be on their guard.

Calgary is the third seeded team in the Western Conference, and the fight they showed in this game proved it. The Coyotes, however, were up for the challenge.

Phoenix jumped out to a 2-0 lead, as David Hale and Peter Mueller both potted goals. Then, Calgary came back and Michael Cammalleri scored to bring it to within 2-1. Olli Jokinen scored with a little over two minutes remaining in the second to send Phoenix to the locker room with a 3-1 lead.

Calgary wasted no time bringing the game to within one, as Matthew Lombardi scored three minutes into the third period. Then, Mikkel Boedker came into the game.

In fact, he came in at a very opportune moment, because Ken Klee was clearing the puck. Boedker nabbed the clearing attempt, skated down on a breakaway attempt, and in a great move, fended off Adrian Aucoin and snapped the puck into the net to make the game 4-2. The play was a thing of beauty, and one that the Coyotes will take with them for the rest of the season.

Michael Cammalleri scored again to keep it interesting the final 12 minutes, but Ilya Bryzgalov kept the game at 4-3 for the rest of the contest.

Hale also had an interesting night, as he not only scored his second career goal (and remember, it took him an NHL-record 230 games to score his first one) but also got into a heated physical altercation with Calgary captain Jarome Iginla.

Iginla claimed that he got a cross-check in the ribs, and that he “got a little too fired up” during the scuffle.

The win gave Phoenix its third in its last four trips to the Saddledome (sorry, love saying that name). According to ESPN, it also improved Phoenix to 9-2 when leading after the first period of a game.

Game 47: at Edmonton Oilers (1/18/09)

On a night where the Oilers honored Hall of Famer Glenn Anderson, Ethan Moreau stole the show.

Moreau had three goals in the game, and Ales Hemsky also added two goals in his first game back from a concussion as Edmonton beat the Coyotes 6-3 before a raucous crowd.

“I thought as a team we played pretty well tonight,” Gretzky said. “We’re playing against a team in a similar situation that we’re in. We’re battling for our lives and every game is important. We knew that it was a big night for their organization and their players were going to feed off of that.”

Gretzky knows all about big nights in Edmonton, as he was with the club for several Cup runs in the early 1980s.

The game was nearly a carbon copy of the loss to the Wild on Tuesday. The team was down 3-1, and tied the game in the second period, only to give up three more goals to lose the contest.

After a Keith Yandle goal gave the ‘Yotes an early 1-0 lead, Moreau and Hemsky scored within three minutes of each other to give the lead right back to Edmonton.

Of this, Ed Jovanovski said “like every game, it was a big game and we didn’t have the urgency early on.”

As a side note, Shane Doan is currently just two goals shy of becoming only the third player in the history of the Jets/Coyotes franchise to score 20 goals in nine consecutive seasons. The other two are Keith Tkachuk and Dale Hawerchuk. Thank you to nhl.com for that information.

Weekly Transactions:

-Recalled left wing Daniel Winnik from San Antonio (AHL) after his conditioning stint.

-Assigned center Garth Murray to San Antonio (AHL).

-Recalled defenseman David Schlemko from San Antonio (AHL).

The Week Ahead:

The only game that the Coyotes have next week is a big one against the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday night at Jobing.com Arena.

The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Arizona, and starts at 7pm MST.

Tickets are still available for the contest, and can be purchased through Ticketmaster.

Also, Shane Doan will be playing in the NHL All-Star Game, which starts at 4pm MST on Sunday in Montreal. Mikkel Boedker also will play in the YoungStars Game, to be played during the Super Skills Competition on Saturday night. All of the action can be seen on Versus. Good luck to both players!