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Arizona Coyotes Playoff Memories: 2011-2012 vs Preds

By William Grigsby

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The Coyotes Move On To The Next Round vs Nashville Predators

After dispatching the Blackhawks in six games, the Coyotes went up against the Nashville Predators, who eliminated the Red Wings in quick fashion, four game to one. This didn’t give the Coyotes any confidence, since they had a terrifically hard time defeating the Red Wings.

The two teams were evenly matched, and played the same style of defensive hockey, with good goalkeeping. Phoenix had home ice advantage once more, and wanted to use it to their advantage.

Game One: Coyotes 4, Predators 3 O/T

Just when the Coyotes thought they had had their fill of overtime games in the Chicago series, it happened again in this first game. It was the first time in NHL history that a team participated in six out of seven games ending in overtime. The Coyotes stepped up once more in this first game to set the tone.

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Vrbata, Klesla, Boedker, and finally Ray Whitney scored goals, with Whitney’s coming at 14:04 of overtime. As had been the case in the Blackhawk series, the Coyotes lost the lead late in the third period again with less than four minutes remaining. The Preds outshot the Coyotes by a whopping 16-1 margin in the last stanza, but only came away with the tying goal. Whitney ended Nashville’s hopes with his goal to put the Yotes up by a game.

Game Two: Coyotes 5 Predators 3

"“For the most part we grind and pound our way to goals, but we’re capable of some good plays too which probably a lot of people don’t know about,” Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said with a smile."

In this game Vermette scored his fifth goal in the playoffs. He was joined by Vrbata, Hanzal, Pyatt, and finally the goal which iced it for the Coyotes by Captain Coyote, Shane Doan.

"“It was nice to see the puck start going in for us,” Mike Smith said. “Obviously in the playoffs, anything can happen. But we have to feel good where we sit right now. We gain a lot of confidence with the way we won tonight.”"

Nashville coach Barry Trotz mentioned that his team gave up eight regular strength goals, more than the entire series against Detroit. Phoenix was winning the battles, and usually that will get you a victory.

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    • Game Three: Predators 2 Coyotes 0

    Nashville scored two first-period goals in a span of 76 seconds. Then they used smothering defense along with some great goaltending late to defeat the Coyotes 2-0, and cut Phoenix’s lead in this series to 2-1. Pekka Rinne out-dueled Mike Smith in this one, and Smitty made a huge error by wondering out of his crease. Smith went far to his left to play the puck, and tried to send a blind pass off the boards to the right wing. Nashville’s Gabriel Bourque intercepted it in the corner, and connected with David Legwand in the slot. Smith dove back into the crease, but he couldn’t stop Legwand’s shot with 8:10 left in the opening period.

    "“I thought both teams — there wasn’t an abundance of chances out there. We gave them some early, easy ones that were glaring,” Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said. “They defended a lot better tonight, but ultimately they were opportunistic on their chances and we couldn’t find one. It was a tight game and that’s going to happens sometimes.”"

    Game Four: Coyotes 1 Predators 0

    The Coyotes didn’t make a lot of great plays — but unlike Game 3, they made few mistakes.

    "“We talked about how they were going to push hard tonight and we had to be better,” Doan said. “We were better for the most part. There were a couple times where they pushed back, but we were better overall. We were OK last game, but OK doesn’t win in the playoffs and we knew had to find a way to win.”"

    Mike Smith stopped all 25 shots sent his way and commended his defense who kept Nashville on the outside, and that prevented any serious chances to score. With this win the Coyotes were just one win away from going where they’ve never been before — to the Western Conference Finals. They also knew they could not allow the Predators to comeback, as they did when the Blackhawks staved off elimination in game five of that series.

    Game Five: Coyotes 2 Predators 1

    The improbable team who was not predicted to go anywhere made it to the Western Conference finals by defeating the Predators at home to take the series four games to one.

    Coach Dave Tippett’s analysis:

    “We made it muddy down in front of our net, and the mud won out in the end,” Tippett said. “We defended. We kept them outside. We packed it in around our net. We did a lot of bend and didn’t break. They have some high skill on that team and if you allow [good] chances they are going to take advantage. We tried to make them as contested as possible. We had a lot of guys blocking a lot of shots.

    The Coyotes would then go on to face the L.A. Kings who dispatched the Blues to advance to the Western Conference Finals as well. Captain Shane Doan reflected how his team got to this point:

    "“It is kind of funny, but when we went on that [11-0-1 streak] in February, we thought, ‘We can beat anybody now.’ We really did think we could beat anyone. That was probably the first step. Winning the division was big for our group — feeling like you not only belong in the playoffs, but you won the division. It was tight and came down to the last day, but it meant a lot.”"

    Next: Arizona Coyotes Playoff Memories: 2011-2012 vs L.A. Kings

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