Mike Smith Flies Solo Vs. Calgary Flames
Mike Smith will take on the Calgary Flames with only Mike Lee to back him up
If you’ve been watching Mike Smith all season, you know he got off to a bit of a slow start.
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The Arizona Coyotes were insistent that Smith was their clear starter, despite obvious struggles early on. He went 5-15-2 in his first 22 games of the season, posting a save percentage worse than none beyond Chad Johnson — and eventually some of Darcy Kuemper‘s game splits — and looking like the league’s worst backup to ever make six million dollars a season.
He’s finally hit his stride, keeping in mind that his 2011-2012 season was a statistical anomaly — but with Devan Dubnyk off to the Minnesota Wild for a third-round draft pick, starting a game against the Calgary Flames with only Mike Lee to back him up will mean he needs to be his absolute best.
Devan Dubnyk may be gone, but the Coyotes are playing their last game at home before the SuperBowl break — hopefully, they’ll make it count
Details for Tonight’s game:.
DATE: Thursday, January 15th
TIME: 7:00 P.M. MST
LOCATION: Glendale, Arizona
ARENA: Gila River Arena
TV INFO: Fox Sports Arizona, RSNW
Projected Line Combos:
Forwards:
Lucas Lessio – Antoine Vermette – Martin Erat
Tobias Rieder – Martin Hanzal – Mikkel Boedker
Sam Gagner – Kyle Chipchura – David Moss
Brandon McMillan – Joe Vitale – Lauri Korpikoski
Defense:
Keith Yandle – Connor Murphy
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Michael Stone
Zbynek Michalek – Philip Samuelsson
Goal: Mike Smith
Key Storylines:
1. If you’re a fan of American hockey, Johnny Gaudreau is headed for Arizona tonight — and he’s been big trouble for Arizona so far this season. Whether you want to call him Johnny Hockey or not is largely irrelevant; his name won’t mean much when he’s scoring huge goals against the Coyotes tonight. The team needs to play a more shut-down defense than they have in recent weeks to make this happen.
2. Philip Samuelsson, son of Ulf and brother of Henrik, is in the lineup tonight alongside Zbynek Michalek. While I’ve been a huge proponent of Philip being the player to eventually phase Michalek out of the lineup, pay attention to the defensive pairings tonight. The top two pairings could be the way things end up if the Coyotes keep Yandle around — and although a Philip Samuelsson – Brandon Gormley pairing may not work out, it also could if Samuelsson can prove he’s got the big defensive presence needed to shield guys like Gormley, Yandle, and Ekman-Larsson. If anything, treat this game as a prospect scouting game, and watch to see what Philip can do.
3. While you likely won’t see Mike Lee tonight, the rest of the game is an audition. Not because the team is ‘earnestly rebuilding’, so to speak, but because this final half of the season will be crucial; players who don’t fit well together will need to be evaluated and see which ones looked best with Brendan Perlini, Max Domi, and Henrik Samuelsson this summer. If you don’t play well with Hanzal? Remember — he looked great with Domi and Samuelsson. The team could also bring back up Tyler Gaudet and Justin Hodgman at some point — the final half of this season will be the time to yield the best return for ill-fitting pieces, and see where the biggest gaps are. It’s been an unlucky season, but it’s also been a transition year; there’s no harm in playing a game centred around figuring out who should stay and who should go, and displaying the best trade pieces for other teams to see. If a player is getting ‘pretty minutes’ — high minutes that make him look favorable — it could be a way to parade him in front of teams looking for pieces prior to the deadline.
4. If you’re concerned by the offensive lines projected for this game, don’t be — winning teams go by a similar structure. You put your offensive players up top, then follow by two extremely well-rounded lines and one defensive-minded line. This prevents a top line from getting overworked and avoids a talent dropoff after the top line goes off at shift change. Want proof? Just look at the Boston Bruins, the Chicago Blackhawks… good two-way teams sandwich two-way lines by one with strong offense and one with strong defense.
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