Arizona Coyotes Fall 3-1 To Colorado Avalanche
The Arizona Coyotes faced off against the Colorado Avalanche in a reunion of sorts. Alex Tanguay and Mikkel Boedker, who were traded for each other last week, were to meet their former teams for the first time post trade.
Final. 1. 121. 3. 103
The Arizona Coyotes had a few reasons to take the ice with vim and vigor.
Alex Tanguay and Mikkel Boedker were involved in a trade between these two days just seven days ago. Louis Domingue‘s issues with Patrick Roy in junior hockey are well documented.
The game didn’t quite start how they’d intended, however.
Shawn Matthias got the Avs on the board after Francois Beauchemin shot an innocent looking puck at Domingue that caromed up and over the goalie. Matthias tapped it in from the other side for the 1-0 lead.
In the second period, Matt Duchene scored after a nice back and forth with Blake Comeau to put the Avs up 2-0.
The third began much the same. A missed high-sticking penalty (of the four minute variety) led to Mikhail Grigorenko scoring Colorado’s 3rd goal.
Boyd Gordon got his first goal of the season to finally get the Arizona Coyotes into the game at 8:47 of the third period. Sergei Plotnikov got his first point with the team by assisting on the goal.
Arizona Coyotes Player of the Game
Louis Domingue saved 34 of the 37 shots he faced and was regularly under siege from odd man rushes and breakaway attempts.
Some days you’re the pigeon and some days you’re the statue. Tonight Domingue was the pigeon but the rest of his team was a statue.
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The View From The 200 Level
The Arizona Coyotes cannot score with any consistency.
They can’t do anything with consistency, to be honest. If they have scoring, the goaltending is bad. If the goaltending performs well, the scoring falters. It’s a vicious cycle.
This is partially due to inconsistent, streaky forwards. It’s also a symptom of a defensive corps that is not strong enough to secure and properly move the puck out of their own zone.
With the apparent injury to Oliver Ekman-Larsson, whatever it may be, would greatly exacerbate that problem.
The team only has two players above 50% Corsi For at 5-on-5 and Ekman-Larsson is one of them. That’s not a good look. It’s a worse one if he’s going to be out for a bit.
Next: Coyotes Player Grades For Week 21; Tanguay Debuts, Goaltending Falters
The Arizona Coyotes are in the desert seeking civilization right now and every time we think they’ve found it, it turns out to be a mirage.
Hopefully Dave Tippett can push the right buttons and find the pieces to make things work yet again.
They’ll get their chance on Wednesday night against the Vancouver Canucks.