Sudden Death Rematch: The fight for the bottom of the Pacific
Does everyone remember when Mikkel Boedker scored his first career NHL hat trick? Remember the team he scored it against? Oh, yeah- the Edmonton Oilers.
The Coyotes and the Oilers both got off to rough starts this season, but the Coyotes seem to be improving at a slightly better rate. They sit one point apart at the bottom of the Pacific Division standings, although the Coyotes have far more wins to speak of: the Oilers have simply taken all their one-goal losses to overtime or a shootout, while the Coyotes have lost them in regulation. That single point makes a world of difference, but hopefully those extra wins mean the Coyotes have a chance to repeat.
Heading into their third game of a Western Conference road trip, the Coyotes are flying high on the wings of a 5-0 shutout over the Vancouver Canucks; Taylor Hall set his return date for Sunday night, though, so he’ll be back and ready to remind everyone that he can make a lasting impact.
Details for Sunday night’s game:
DATE: Sunday, November 16th
TIME: 6:00 p.m. (PST)
LOCATION: Edmonton, Alberta
ARENA: Rexall Place
TV INFO: RSNW, Fox Sports AZ
Line Combinations:
Forwards:
Lauri Korpikoski – Antoine Vermette – Mikkel Boedker
Tobias Rieder – Martin Hanzal – Martin Erat
Rob Klinkhammer – Sam Gagner – Shane Doan
Brandon McMillan – Joe Vitale – B.J. Crombeen
Extra Skaters: Lucas Lessio, Kyle Chipchura
Defense:
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Zbynek Michalek
Chris Summers – Connor Murphy
Brandon Gormley – Michael Stone
Not on the ice for practice: Keith Yandle (no confirmation that he is a scratch)
The Coyotes are starting Devan Dubnyk over Mike Smith for the second consecutive night. The Edmonton Oilers are starting their number one, Ben Scrivens.
Observations and Predictions:
Alternate Captain and offensive powerhouse Keith Yandle went down during the game against Vancouver, failing to return from the locker room after the first intermission until a couple of minutes into the second period. He seemed to be skating without overwhelming difficulty, but it was clear that he wasn’t feeling one hundred percent. If he’s out, this could impact the team in a huge way — but it could also be a chance for newcomer Brandon Gormley to prove to the coaches that he belongs in the lineup for good.
Update: still no word where he would fit in the lineup, but…
Tippett said Yandle is fine to play tonight.
— Sarah McLellan (@sarah__mclellan) November 16, 2014
Backup netminder Devan Dubnyk earned his first career shutout with the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night against the Vancouver Canucks, and subsequently is starting against the team that formerly drafted him in the first round. Good chance for Dubnyk to continue proving to both Tippet and Maloney that signing him in the off-season was the right choice.
Puck Prose
It seems strange that the Coyotes would choose to recall Lucas Lessio then put him in the press box, particularly when one of his strongest selling points is his two-way play. Lessio has openly admitted to modeling his playing style after that of Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins; if Yandle isn’t feeling one hundred percent, he’d be a perfect addition to the lineup tonight.
Sam Gagner didn’t get a chance to score against his old team back in October, but he and Shane Doan are being given a chance to debut a strong third line that hints at the Coyotes having the manpower to adopt more of a rolling line offense. No word on whether Tippett was pleased with his changes to the power-play unit this Friday, but these two could become permanent linemates. Who could be mad about that?
The Coyote played one of their strongest games of the season on Friday night, shutting out a team that has been taking the Western Conference by storm. They historically have the stronger defense of tonight’s two franchises (they pulled ahead 7-4 in the last meeting between the two), but Taylor Hall is expecting to make a strong comeback.
Tonight should be another high-intensity, high-scoring matchup between these two Pacific Division teams. I think the threat of being last in the West is too much for the Coyotes to bear, though, and they’ll ultimately pull out their second win of this three-game road trip.
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