The Arizona Coyotes are more desperate than ever for a win
With a 6-0 loss fresh in their minds, the Arizona Coyotes have to face off against the Columbus Blue Jackets without the confidence they almost brought straight into 2015.
Puck Prose
The Coyotes went on their second three-game win streak of the season right before the loss in Dallas, though, picking up victories against the Edmonton Oilers, the Anaheim Ducks, and the Philadelphia Flyers to pull themselves up to 14 wins on the season. If the team can play like this again, the season could turn around just enough to put them in Lawson Crouse territory.
The Blue Jackets are determined to come back from a devastating start to the season, though. With a full fifty percent of their roster on injured reserve at one point, Columbus went from being the team to watch to the team to pity within weeks.
Nick Foligno is armed with a huge new contract extension and Sergei Bobrovsky is back in net — Arizona may be hosting, but they have their work cut out for them.
Details for Saturday night’s game:
DATE: Saturday, January 3rd
TIME: 6:00 P.M. (MST)
LOCATION: Glendale, Arizona
ARENA: Gila River Arena
TV INFO: Fox Sports AZ, Fox Sports Ohio
Projected Line Combinations:
Forwards:
Mikkel Boedker – Antoine Vermette – Shane Doan
Martin Erat – Martin Hanzal – Sam Gagner
Tobias Rieder – Kyle Chipchura – David Moss
Brandon McMillan – Joe Vitale – Lauri Korpikoski
Defense:
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Zbynek Michalek
Keith Yandle – Michael Stone
Connor Murphy – Brandon Gormley
*Chris Summers likely healthy scratch
Goal: Mike Smith
Five Things to Know:
1. David Schlemko was claimed off waivers this morning by the Dallas Stars. He’s catching an afternoon flight to Texas, which means that the extra skater will be likely Chris Summers – who came off injured reserve this morning, but shouldn’t be in the lineup
2. The offensive lines are set the way they’ve been lately (minus Tyler Gaudet, who was reassigned to the Portland Pirates, and adding Joe Vitale, who is off injured reserve) to start the game – but don’t be surprised if they get swapped during the game to spark some offense. Tobias Rieder has been fading into the background in recent games — although he’s on the third line right now, he could get switched with Lauri Korpikoski (or even Brandon McMillan) to try and get some plays going. Conversely, though, good play from him could mean a bump up to play with Gagner and Hanzal, who he has clicked with in the past.
3. The last time these two teams played, Mike Smith recorded a 54-save shutout — so even without Dubnyk’s 6GA during the Dallas game, it’s no surprise to see Smitty starting in net. That being said, the Blue Jackets are using Sergei Bobrovsky — if the Coyotes want to win, they need to overcome their fear of scoring against really good goaltenders.
4. Although the Blue Jackets no longer have a miles-long IR list, Artem Anisimov is out with injury — this team is still vulnerable. The Coyotes have to capitalize on this.
5. Max Domi was held point-less against Team Denmark in Team Canada’s 8-0 victory on Friday night — if the Coyotes have any motivation to score a goal, it should be to show that someone in the Coyotes system can put the puck in the back of the net. (That being said, Louis Domingue recorded a shutout last night in a 4-0 win for the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL. So good goaltending exists in Arizona’s system somewhere).
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