Arizona Coyotes All Star Break: Road Trip Time
The Arizona Coyotes take on the world (at least, take on the road)
Seeing as how the Arizona Coyotes finished off a six game home stand on the short end by going 2-4-0, this road trip could be very pivotal as to the outcome of their season.
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Puck Prose
With the NHL All-Star games being held the weekend 1/25/15, the eight game trip will be split up — with three games before the All-Star game, and five after it. That may help, but the team can’t justify a win or a loss based on the ‘road trip itself’ — they have to play stronger hockey, plain and simple. There have been short spurts of improvement, only followed by disappointing games where they have played below expectations.
The team can either take the All Star Break as a blessing or a curse, and will be stuck travelling around during the Super Bowl — so they can either come home to an excited, happy fan base or an upset one. So much of this will do with the team themselves… if the Coyotes can play a good series of games, this season could finish on a high note.
Er, a highER note.
Here’s the rundown of the road trip:
- 1-17-15 – vs. the Minnesota Wild – Prediction: Wild 4, Coyotes 2 (ACTUAL SCORE: WILD 3, COYOTES 1)
Tough to call this one, but I will tell you one thing… Devan Dubnyk will be pumped if he starts against his old team. How many times have you seen a player get traded, and then come back to haunt you?
Season series history:
>> The Coyotes lost 2-0 on 10-23-14 in Minnesota, with Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper registering 26 saves in his third shutout in his first four starts. He has cooled down considerably since then, and has a 13 W, 12 L, 1 OTL currently (as of 1-16-15).
>> The next game was on 12-13-14, held in Arizona, with the Wild securing a 4-3 shootout victory.
>> This game saw, as we predicted, the Wild putting Dubnyk in net — and beating his former team. It’s good to see him getting the recognition he deserves, but it hurt nonetheless… although the team remained competitive for the entire game. The final score was 3-1, but that belied the team’s actual stats during the game, as an empty net goal sealed a 2-goal lead for the Wild. Not the blowout the Coyotes were probably fearing.