Coyotes Travel to Anaheim

by Pbcoyotes

The Phoenix Coyotes face the Stanley Cup champions Anaheim Ducks in their first divisional match of the season tonight. The Coyotes are on a three-game losing streak and where the Ducks are two games below .500, they have won all of their games at home. Even though the Ducks are vulnerable, they are still a dangerous team. The Coyotes need to improve their power play, their scoring touch, and their concentration for 60 minutes. Every team in the NHL will capitalize on the mistakes and no one cares who dominated what team for the majority of the game. The only thing that matters is the win. Both teams are closely ranked in special teams. Predictably though, the Ducks can score against the teams they play against and the Coyotes have yet to prove consistently that they can and the goals against per game is higher for the Coyotes than the Ducks. The return of Zbynek Michalek to the lineup should help matters both offensively and defensively. The Coyotes missed his presence on the ice. It will be a good game for the Coyotes to win, especially one in the division.

CityhockeyfeverVarsity Captain

747 days ago

Score 0

Unfortunately regardless of their struggles (mainly on the road), the Ducks have owned the Coyotes in their own backyard. It's going to take an extraordinary effort on Phoenix's part to win tonight. Can they do it? Of course they can. It might take the kind of results we saw in the Nashville game where each line seemed to be clicking and Alex Auld playing splendidly well in net. With David Aebischer sent down to San Antonio, now it is a matter of whether Auld or Mikael Tellqvist taking charge and earning that #1 spot. If the kids can show they can play with the best of what Anaheim has to offer (we know they're not the champs for nothing), they the outlook looks more promising than some may believe to date.

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