Leave it to Rieder: Tobias Rieder Leads Arizona Coyotes out of goal slump in 5-2 win over Edmonton
Tobias Rieder is good at hockey.
Tobias Rieder has been the Arizona Coyotes‘ best player on the ice over the last two weeks. At times, he looked like he was the only player whose head was in the game, and has been the only consistent skater giving the full effort the coaching staff expects.
Live Feed class=inline-text id=inline-text-2
Oil On Whyte
Therefore, it was no surprise that it took a spark by Rieder to airlift the Coyotes out of the temple of doom that has been their offense over the last two games.
The first twenty minutes of the game looked like much of the same, with the Coyotes taking three trips to the penalty box and only managing five SOG in a period that was pretty much all Oilers. Edmonton took advantage of the Coyotes’ rough start and capitalized on a Zbynek Michalek penalty (it was a bit controversial, occurring in a scrum after the play) to get a 1-0 lead off a rebound from the stick of Jordan Eberle.
Arizona was able to bounce back with a vengeance in the middle frame, though, thanks to some pretty lacking plays from Taylor Hall and some sweet plays from the aforementioned German speedster.
Rieder put the Coyotes up for good, thanks to his speed on two short handed goals coming on the same penalty kill — just 58 seconds apart.
The first was thanks to a lazy neutral zone turnover by Taylor Hall, which allowed Rieder to out race everyone and beat Viktor Fasth one-on-one under the pads. It was also the first shorthanded goal for Arizona this season — but it wasn’t the last.
58 seconds after the first goal, Rieder sped through the neutral zone once again and received a clean pass from Marty Hanzal that he was able to finish to put the Coyotes ahead. Rieder led the Coyotes in shots on goal in four of the last five games, in which he has put up four points.
Rieder wasn’t the only player to help get the Coyotes off the scinde, though. Oliver Ekman-Larsson made up for his bad defensive play that led to the Eberle goal with a power play goal of his own in the second period, giving the Coyotes a 3-1 lead. Mikkel Boedker and Martin Erat added goals as well in the 5-2 victory.
Dec 1, 2014; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Arizona Coyotes Arizona Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith (41) warms up prior to the game against the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
Victory is a word that unfortunately Mike Smith hasn’t been familiar with lately, as he was 0-5-2 in his previous seven starts. Smith was solid on Monday, though, making several flashy glove saves throughout the game
Most importantly, though, his 25 save performance has to be good for his confidence — which had to have been shaken with the losses mounting.
The Coyotes won’t get much rest to dwell on their victory, as they head back to Calgary on Tuesday to face the Flames once again. This divisional rival has already beaten the Yotes twice this season — one would expect Devan Dubnyk to start on the back to back, so the team will have to play this well in front of him too.
Tweet of the game: The Coyotes Traded Kale Kessy to the Oilers in order to get Rieder… where is Kessy now?
@Five4Howling Oklahoma City. 6 points and 150+ PIMs in two AHL seasons. So yeah, good trade by Edmonton.
— Brendan Porter (@brendanporter) December 2, 2014
More from Howlin' Hockey
- How the Arizona Coyotes could line-up with Logan Cooley signed
- Report: Logan Cooley could be closer to signing Arizona Coyotes ELC
- Arizona Coyotes sign Matias Maccelli to three-year deal
- Ivan Prosvetov signs one-year deal with Arizona Coyotes
- Arizona Coyotes cut Galchenyuk after reported police incident