Arizona Coyotes Limp Into Hawks Game With Injuries
With five players down with injuries, the Arizona Coyotes must step up against the Blackhawks.
The roster for the Arizona Coyotes looks more like a MASH unit of late. Joe Vitale has been down for a long time after getting his clock rung in a fight, and is recovering from an orbital bone injury to his face. Mike Smith is also out long term with a core muscle injury. The other three are day-to-day type injuries to Zbynek Michalek, Boyd Gordon, and Martin Hanzal.
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The Martin Hanzal lower body injury has Arizona Coyotes fans worried, since he has missed nine games at various times from this same injury. He did state that his back was fine after having season ending surgery last year. So, if it is a lower body injury, is it due to him blocking shots (which seems unlikely since he’s only blocked 14 shots this season), or is it due to some other injury? Good question, the “lower body” injury description doesn’t tell us much.
Then, you have a guy like Michalek who is almost a second goalie out there being out for out for a total of seven games this season. Conversely, he has blocked 51 shots in 28 games, and it can be understood why he may be out of the starting lineup. Stefan Elliott has filled in admirably to show his worth when needed.
Then, as we go down the hospital ward… Boyd Gordon was listed as day-to-day, but that has been downgraded to being placed on injury reserve, per Sarah McLellan of azcentral.com. He will be sorely missed due to his penalty killing abilities, and face-off expertise. The injury he sustained from a head hit compliments of Jake Muzzin of the Los Angeles Kings, was pretty vicious.
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What is more interesting is that the Kings illustrious head coach, Darryl Sutter thought the play was not even worthy of a penalty. Per lakingsinsider.com:
On what he saw on Jake Muzzin’s match penalty:
Muzz’s ass on Boyd’s face. It was a hockey play. It’s not even a penalty. They had their arms up the whole night. It was all penalties. All special teams.
In light of all the injuries, GM Don Maloney announced today that the team has recalled Craig Cunningham, and Laurent Dauphin from Springfield to reinforce the roster. It will be Dauphin’s first NHL appearance, which has to be an exciting time for him. He has five goals, five assists in 30 games with the AHL Falcon’s team this season.
Next: Arizona Coyotes Games 34 thru 36 Predictions
It should be a usual game where the Arizona Coyotes play the Blackhawks well. They will need to have the fill-in players to step up and produce. And, Anders Lindback needs to continue his excellent play he demonstrated in the Avalanche game when he stopped 38 of 39 shots on net. That total needs to come down if the Arizona Coyotes expect to squeak by the reining Stanley Cup champs. The Hawks are winners of six of their last 10 games, and the Arizona Coyotes have only won four of their last 10.
The Arizona Coyotes need to get healthy, but in the mean time, a win against the Blackhawks will feel really fine.