Richnasty’s Three Keys : Arizona Coyotes Vs. The Columbus Cannon
The Arizona Coyotes avoid sounding the Columbus Cannon on final road game
The Arizona Coyotes had a pretty good (Thanks, AZ, for giving me a win on my birthday) Super Bowl Sunday, as they defeated the Canadiens 3-2 — but I bet Louis Domingue had an even better one.
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The rookie goaltender earned his first NHL win in his first NHL start in his home province of Quebec. It was definitely one of the highlights of the season to date for the struggling Arizona Coyotes — but they’re looking to continue that strong momentum Tuesday, in the final game of their franchise-long eight game road trip against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Coyotes have already beaten the Blue Jackets once this season here in Glendale by a 6-3 score, and will need to replicate that performance to finish their road trip on a great note. Here’s how they do it.
1. Secondary Scoring
With the absence of Mikkel Boedker, it has become readily apparent that the Coyotes need to find scoring from the bottom six and the blueline (besides OEL) more than ever.
They got this in a big way on Sunday, thanks to a couple power play goals from Lauri Korpikoski — as well as a goal from blueliner Connor Murphy.
Korpikoski is a perfect example of a player who’s been providing secondary scoring — he’s been quite hot as of late with a three game point streak, including two goals and a couple of assists for four points.
Feb 1, 2015; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Arizona Coyotes left wing Lauri Korpikoski (28) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against Montreal Canadiens during the third period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
This becomes even bigger when you realize Columbus has only won three of its last ten games, and are starting a rookie goaltender in Anton Forsberg.
Over their last 10 game span, they have only scored 1.9 goals/g. Even just one goal from the bottom six tonight might be enough to deflate the struggling Blue Jackets, as long as the team continues to get scoring from the top six as well (and OEL).
1-A) Be more #rightshark than #leftshark
If you watched the Super Bowl, I’m sure you’ve become well aware of the two dancing sharks that Katy Perry employed during her halftime show. Unfortunately, though, one of them was a little bit off — the shark on the left seemingly had no idea what he was doing, and to correlate this to hockey, I’m going to look at goaltending.
Mike Smith is starting tonight for the Coyotes, while Anton Forsberg is in net for Columbus.
In the past, Mike Smith has definitely been the right shark of the matchup between these two teams — he temporarily held a record for most saves in a shutout (with 54) against Columbus a few years back.
Smitty is coming off a left shark performance, but needs to rebound tonight against a rookie goaltender on the opposite end and a struggling Blue Jackets offense.
2) Shots
I won’t go too far into this because we detailed it yesterday in our weekly recap (complete with GIFs and Taylor Swift references galore), but the Coyotes have done a beautiful job of getting back to the type of hockey that made them so successful in the past.
They’ve gone beyond just blocking shots, and have become a good puck possession team with a #hockeythehardway attitude over their last several games.
Coming back from a goal down in Philly to get the game to overtime, and once again getting three unanswered goals on Sunday, the team is actually a respectable 8-8-2 in games when they outshoot their opponents — which, unfortunately, happens less often than twenty-one other teams in the league.
The problem lies in games in which they get outshot. Their win percentage in those games is an abysmal .333, good for 26th in the league.
3) Don’t let the Blue Jackets All Stars beat you
Back in the 6-3 Coyote victory this January, the Coyotes held the top line of Nick Foligno, Ryan Johansen and Cam Atkinson to two total points — and they have to do that again.
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If I’m the Coyotes, I’m going to take my chances with the Blue Jackets’ other three lines beating me — instead of the line with two 45 point scorers.
How good is that top line for Columbus? Take a look at the following chart — it compares the top Blue Jackets’ line to the top Coyotes line of Rieder, Doan, and Vermette in all situations, score adjusted. (Love the fact that all three Coyotes are a positive in relative Corsi):
Do these three things, and I like the Coyotes’ chances to head back to Glendale on a bit of a win streak. Plus, winning would make getting a free Pizza on Thursday even better.
Mike Smith better start making those Pizzas as soon as he is done beating the Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
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