Mike McKenna is back in the NHL, while Louis Domingue is in Portland
The Arizona Coyotes have recalled Mike McKenna. Happy Monday, Coyotes fans!
Puck Prose
With a stellar stretch of games out of the Coyotes over their last two weeks of play, the team’s decision to reassign Louis Domingue to the Portland Pirates of the AHL — and recall Mike McKenna — likely has to do with a decision to play Mike Smith more, and give Domingue some time to play until he’s needed again.
This isn’t uncommon for NHL teams — particularly with young guys like Domingue, who’s only twenty-two.
By sending him to Portland, he’s able to be the clear starter until the team wants to specifically play him as a relief backup. The way that Mike Smith has been playing, he’s perfectly fine to handle the next stretch of games by himself (although we have to hope that Mike McKenna will get at least one start between Monday and Tuesday nights, with the Chicago Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues as back-t0-back road trip games) — that is, until this weekend, when the team’s back-to-back homestand against the San Jose Sharks and the New York Rangers should hopefully see more of Domingue again.
The team released the information that McKenna was up and Domingue was down on Monday morning. It’s safe to assume that Domingue is already on his way to Portland, where we can hope that he’ll get a chance to practice a bit before his next NHL appearance.
We were first introduced to Domingue when he was brought in for the team’s disheartening loss to the Ottawa Senators last week, but we then got to experience him playing his first career NHL start in a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
Predlines
After the Coyotes traded away Devan Dubnyk (who’s recorded four shutouts since being dealt to the Minnesota Wild, but we don’t want to talk about that right now), it became pretty clear that the team’s younger netminders were going to get a chance to show the team what they’re made of — but the way that both GM Don Maloney and head coach Dave Tippett have eased Domingue into the NHL is admirable, to say the least.
McKenna is an 18-14-2 with the Portland Pirates this season, posting a .933 SV% and keeping an impressive 2.09 GAA. In comparison, Domingue has an 8-4-1 with the Pirates as their backup, hitting a .922 SV% in his first full season of AHL play and averaging 2.40 GAA at that level. He’s also recorded a 4-0 shutout for the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL.
*We’d love to see what Mark Visentin can do, but he’s out with a foot injury for the full season. Sad faces, we know.*
The Coyotes face off against the Chicago Blackhawks tonight in Chicago, hoping to redeem themselves from an embarrassing 6-1 loss their last game against the conference rivals.
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