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Delayed Reaction: Coyotes fall 1-0 to Islanders, Not a terrible final score

By Catherine Silverman

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The Arizona Coyotes ALMOST take it to overtime, or so we can dream

121. 1. 106. Final. 0

So normally I do a professional, thorough recap of the hockey game. BUT some insane woman impaled the top of my foot with her stiletto last night immediately following the game (I wish this was a joke), so I’m giving you the morning-after evaluation.

(I’m sorry. I just wanted to say one final time that some crazy person wore stilettos to a hockey game. I’m done now).

Anyways.

I made a couple of cracks yesterday about how evenly matched these two teams were, but BOY did it ever show Saturday night. The Coyotes got outshot by double yet had the more solid defense/goaltending, while the Islanders played a sloppier game in terms of penalty minutes and giveaways but managed to block an absurd number of shots- and, of course, Frans Nielsen actually managed to be the only skater on the ice to score all game.

THEME OF THE GAME:

"“Smitty was really good, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t score. We need to find the balance between playing our game defensively and finding a way to generate offense.”"

The Coyotes are finally seeing the Mike Smith that everyone was hoping would return from where he was apparently puttering around in the past. Smith isn’t quite red-hot yet, but he’s getting there- if the team had been able to get a few good scoring chances (and had been able to capitalize on what they did have) last night, the game could have ended very differently.

It’s amazing what having confidence in net can do. When Mike Smith was off his game, the whole team was off- now that he’s on, the team is looking a lot better.

While I have to praise the Coyotes defense, I was disappointed in the offense. Coming into the game, both the Coyotes and the Islanders were hovering around an average of 30 shots per game- and the Coyotes only took about two thirds that many. Nineteen shots on net can sometimes get you a win, but not very often. It’s called score effects… and the Coyotes don’t seem to subscribe to that train of thought.

I’m including the game highlights, because it shows how both teams looked really good last night. The Coyotes needed to score, but you have to give the Islanders credit- with thirteen different players notching at least one blocked shot, the New York squad came to get their job done.

The Coyotes next play on Tuesday, against the Dallas Stars at home in Glendale. Should be a nice win, unless the Stars are desperate enough to finally turn things around.

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