Coyotes start trip on wrong foot, face Rangers tonight
The good news of the Glendale City Council agreeing to the team’s sale obviously didn’t get out to the Coyotes on the east coast. The New Jersey Devils scored early and never looked back in their 3-0 shutout win over Phoenix on Wednesday night.
It was the Ilya Kovalchuk show for the struggling Devils. Kovalchuk scored a goal early in the first period and then scored another in the third to put the game away for a New Jersey squad that had lost five straight before last night’s victory. Mark Fayne added the other goal for the Devils.
Not a single Coyotes player had a good night. Only a handful of players didn’t end up with a minus night. Phoenix was bad on the power play with not scoring on three chances and they also didn’t put enough pressure on Martin Brodeur throughout the night to really give him problems. That is a bit puzzling for a team that has put a ton of shots on net in the past couple of weeks.
Things don’t get any easier for the Yotes. Phoenix is right back on the ice tonight against a hot New York Rangers team. During this month, the Rangers have won five of seven and are coming off of a big victory against the Penguins last night in Pittsburgh. A lot like the Coyotes, they have balanced scoring throughout the roster. New York has 14 guys who have at least double-digit point totals.
Marian Gaborik, who missed about a month earlier this year with an injury, appears to be all the way back to 100 percent health. He has had four points in his last four games and had a hat trick just a few weeks back. The Coyotes do catch bit of a break as New York will be without Ryan Callahan. The young winger broke his hand in Wednesday’s game and is expected to miss the next couple of weeks.