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Arizona Coyotes vs Toronto Maple Leafs: previews and predictions

By Catherine Silverman

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Arizona Coyotes vs Toronto Maple Leafs

The Arizona Coyotes and the Toronto Maple Leafs both missed the playoffs last year due to goalie injuries late in the year and some weirdness on the ice- and by weirdness, I mean ineffective offense and not-so-great defense.

Who am I kidding… both these teams ended the season practically in tragedy, although the Coyotes finished much closer to the playoffs than the Leafs. Which, you know, could hurt more, so in theory the Coyotes are more desperate.

These are two teams that have seen shaky starts out of their number one netminders, but both teams are flying high after wins this weekend. Should be a battle to the death.

Details for Tuesday Night’s game:

DATE: Tuesday, November 4th
TIME: 6:00 pm (PST)
LOCATION: Glendale, AZ
ARENA: Gila River Arena
TV INFO: Fox Arizona Plus, RSNO

Keys to Victory

The Arizona Coyotes have called up a defenseman who is desperate to prove himself- and so far, the team has a perfect 2/2 record for call-ups scoring in their first games. Let’s keep this up, yeah?

Neither team has confirmed their starting netminder yet, which means that Dave Tippett and Randy Carlyle are probably having a twitchy stare-down to see who breaks and starts their questionable netminder first.

*Update: The Coyotes confirmed Smith in net at 10am PST*

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    • To win this game, the Coyotes have to keep the momentum going from start to finish. Neither of these teams are *necessarily* known for scoring the first goal of the game, so you *could* see a scoreless first period. Of course,the Coyotes have been scored on almost twenty times in the first period alone this season- so that stat needs to, ah, improve.

    The Coyotes are seeing more chemistry on the middle two lines, but there’s still room for improvement. In contrast, the Leafs are having a shockingly good start to the season- they’re coming off wins over the not-so-impressive Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets, but they also beat the Chicago Blackhawks. During Hockey Night in Canada. That’s kind of good.

    Players we need to see good things from? Let’s get more use out of Sam Gagner. Let’s see another point (well, preferably another goal, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here) from Mikkel Boedker. Martin Hanzal, let’s re-enter the lineup with a bang. BRANDON GORMLEY, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON’T BREAK THE OPENING-NHL-GAME-GOAL STREAK OUR PORTLAND GUYS HAVE SET.

    Fun Fact of the Day:

    Our editor, Catherine (that’s me), is actually from a long line of Leafs fans. She’s got a lot of relatives that have been giving her crap for tonight’s game- so, like, it would be nice for the Coyotes to win. She may or may not have an overly emotional Twitter tonight. 

    Oh: and this gem

    Prediction:

    The Coyotes, I think, know how thin the ice is that they’re skating on. Gormley getting the call-up might be the wake-up call the blue line needs, and I don’t think that Toronto’s net situation can stay as hot as it’s been for the past week. I say we blow them out of the water.

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