Arizona Coyotes vs Colorado Avalanche: Previews and Predictions

The Arizona Coyotes are hosting Colorado, the Central Division’s Biggest Mystery

The Arizona Coyotes went 1-2-1 last week; not great, but not terrible, either.

So how awesome is it that they’re getting to play the last place team in the Central Division tonight? 

No one can figure out why, but the good luck that the Colorado Avalanche had last season seems to have expired — and in a big way, too. Nathan Mackinnon has finally hit his scoring stride, but the rest of the team is still struggling to pull themselves out of last place in their division.

The Coyotes are still having issues getting on the board, as well — but with Tobias Rieder heating up more and more with every passing game, it looks like this team is ready to take off. Martin Hanzal was back on the ice tonight, so the team has their second line center back… and it’s possible that David Moss could be back in the lineup, too, which gives yet another player a chance to explode in a prove-me-worthy game.

Mikkel Boedker and Sam Gagner are starting to pick up steam, recording a point apiece nearly every game. Don’t expect this to stop any time soon — with teams like Toronto and Edmonton getting restless, players have to know that being shopped is an imminent threat across the league.

Finally, Mike Smith is back in… but Semyon Varlamov is not. The Coyotes are playing on home ice. Do I sense a win in the Desert tonight?

Details for Tuesday’s game:

DATE: Tuesday, November 25th
TIME: 6:00 P.M. (PST)
LOCATION: Glendale, Arizona
ARENA: Gila River Arena
TV INFO: Fox Sports AZ, Alt2, TVA

Tonight’s Lineup:

Forwards:

Lauri Korpikoski – Antoine Vermette – Mikkel Boedker
Rob Klinkhammer – Martin Hanzal – Martin Erat
Tobias Rieder – Sam Gagner – Shane Doan
Brandon McMillan – Joe Vitale – B.J. Crombeen
*David Moss was a late addition to the ice, no confirmation of where he would skate

Defense: 

Keith Yandle – Michael Stone
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Zbynek Michalek
David Schlemko – Connor Murphy
*Brandon Gormley not on the ice, likely not playing. Chris Summers extra skater

Goal: Mike Smith

Keys to Victory:

It looks like Dave Tippett made a couple adjustments to hopefully ensure a victory in front of Mike Smith tonight, so the team should try and utilize these swaps. Here’s what’s different from the last time the team took the ice —

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On offense: Lucas Lessio, who failed to record a point in his first few games with the team, has been sent back down to the AHL club. It looks like David Moss is back on the ice, but it’s possible that both he and Kyle Chipchura will be the team’s two healthy scratches on offense — there’s no way they’re taking Tobias Rieder out of the lineup. Speaking of, it seems that Tippett has put the Rieder-Gagner-Doan line as the third line for the team. May seem strange, but these guys aren’t the team’s top point-scorers… and every team that’s won a Stanley Cup in the past seven or eight years has had an absolutely lethal, gritty third line.

On defense: During the Coyotes’ loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday, a couple bad covers by Keith Yandle resulted in the Stars snagging two goals before the third period was even a minute in. Looks like Tippett has remedied this by swapping Connor Murphy with Michael Stone.  Smart move — Murphy has clear chemistry with Yandle, but Stone leads the team in blocked shots this season. Adding a more defensive presence alongside Yandle may not actually do anything, but it could give Mike Smith (who is starting again, it seems) the peace of mind to make the saves he needs. This leaves Murphy with David Schlemko, which gives all three defensive lines an offensive edge; this could be a move to ensure that the team is taking shots during every shift on the ice.

In order to beat the Avalanche, the Arizona Coyotes need to be the team that starts scoring — both teams are having trouble putting points on the board, and it’s costing them in the long run. The Coyotes have the stronger defense, so this could mean an easy win for the Pacific Division team. They can’t underestimate guys like Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, or Jarome Iginla, though; for a team that isn’t able to score very much, they’ve got a lot of guys that are considered pretty good forwards.

The Avalanche are starting Reto Berra in net, which is nothing but good news for the Coyotes. He’s got a .895 SV% and averages over three goals per game — his numbers are near identical to Smith‘s, but without the outlying blowout games that Smith has to inflate those numbers. Solid defense plus a relentless offense should result in a nice, clean victory for the Coyotes.

Predictions:

The Colorado Avalanche were the beneficiaries of a whole lot of good luck last season — but as with any team that goes on an unnaturally lucky hot streak, they’ve gone cold this season. The Coyotes, on the other hand, have been quite the opposite; a team that had everything possible go wrong at the tail end of last season (and, really, the start of this one), Arizona is finally starting to see things trend upward.

Things can still get better, but I think they’ll be able to hold off the Avalanche for at least tonight. The Arizona Coyotes shall take home the win, in my opinion.

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