For The First Time In Their History, The Coyotes Are Going To The Western Conference FINALS !
After eliminating the tough Chicago Blackhawks and the Nashville Predators, the Coyotes advanced to an unfamiliar place — the Western Conference Finals. The rivalry between these two teams is over the top, with no love lost for one another.
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The L.A. Kings made fast work of the teams they played prior to this conference finals match-up. They took care of the Vancouver Canucks four games to one. Then, continued their dominance by sweeping the St. Louis Blues four games to none.
Game One: Kings 4 Coyotes 2
A week off for the Kings didn’t slow down their momentum a bit. Their relentless fore-checking kept the Coyotes out of sync most of the game. Then, the Kings peppered Mike Smith with 47 shots with goals provided by Anze Kopitar, Dwight King (2), and Dustin Brown. Brown has seven goals in ten playoff games, and the Kings have won six road games in a row. Quite impressive — not so much for the Coyotes who according to their coach, things didn’t happen.
"“We weren’t close in that game,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. “We got beat in every facet of the game.”"
"“I felt our execution was so poor. The execution and will to get things done is going to have to improve greatly if we’re going to have a chance in this series.”"
Phoenix has been outshot in 10 of its 12 playoff games and has given up 45 or more shots three times. It is 1-2 in those games.
"“As the playoffs go on, the bar gets higher and higher,” Tippett said. “You have some players that can rise with the bar and we didn’t have enough guys rise with the bar tonight.”"
Puck Prose
Game Two: Kings 4 Coyotes 0
The Kings dominance on the road continued, as they thumped the lifeless Coyotes. Jeff Carter, who had only one goal in the previous 10 playoff games, became the first Kings player since Wayne Gretzky in 1993 to score a hat trick in a playoff game. He collected two power play goals both with a 5 on 3 advantage due to 13 penalties totaling 56 minutes assessed to the Coyotes. They had to play the final 23:31 without captain Shane Doan and the last 8:59 without center Martin Hanzal. Both were given five-minute majors for boarding and game misconducts. Without these two players, the Coyotes were helpless, and fell into the “losing their cool” trap that the Kings suckered them into over the last two periods. Like I said these two teams don’t like each other, and at the 18:00 mark of the middle stanza Dustin Brown got under Mike Smith’s skin, causing Smith to receive a slashing penalty, and Brown to receive a diving call.
Game Three: Kings 2 Coyotes 1
The L.A. Kings took a demanding 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals by squeaking out a victory. Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown continued their torrid postseason with Brown assisting on Koptar’s goal a little more than two minutes after the Coyotes took the lead 1-0.
Captain Shane Doan reverberated the Coyotes fate:
"“We know what we have to do. We have to win the next game,” Phoenix captain Shane Doan said. “I mean, that’s all — we have to play better and find a way to win the next one. … We’re disappointed we’re down 3-0, but this is a pretty resilient group — got to find a way to win the next game.”"
With their backs against the wall (I hate that cliché) they at least have two of three games on home ice, if they can take game four. L.A. has controlled the play, and that needs to change if the Coyotes want to get to the NHL Finals.
Game Four: Coyotes 2 Kings 0
The Coyotes did what they had to do to stay alive, and Mike Smith pitched a shutout, with 36 saves to assure it. Captain Shane Doan mentioned in the team practice the day before game four that he had to get more involved in the offense. He did just that. He scored a power play goal in the first period, followed by another goal in the second.
Doan’s view:
"“I think I might have been caught up a little bit in trying to be overly physical in the other games, had opportunities to play with the puck, make plays, take the puck to the net in the last couple games and didn’t do it as well,” Doan said. “It was brought to my attention by some people that’s going to help you out with that. I think that was a big part of our game tonight. There were a few more times where we had pucks where we could try to get to the net. They’re a good team. They’re playing their game well. We got to, for the most part, play our game better.”"
The Kings didn’t help their own cause by coming up empty on the power play with six failures.
Game Five: Kings 4 Coyotes 3 O/T
The Coyotes couldn’t hold two leads, and then L.A. knew what it felt like when the Blackhawks scored late to tie the game vs the Coyotes. Keith Yandle tied the game with 3:37 left in regulation to force yet another overtime game, the seventh for the Coyotes in the playoffs. The season ended for the Coyotes at 17:42 of O/T when Dustin Penner scored. The hard feelings between these two teams did not improve when Dustin Brown hit Michal Rozsival knee to knee, and the Coyotes bench was in an uproar. But, no penalty was called, and when the game ended Mike Smith, and Shane Doan were both assessed with game misconduct penalties protesting the no-call on Brown. You be the judge: Click Here to see hit
In any case the L.A. Kings were moving on to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1993 when Wayne Gretzky was their captain. The Kings of course, moved on to defeat the N.J. Devils in six games to capture the Cup.
The Coyotes have not been back to the playoffs since their disheartening loss. The L.A.-Phoenix (now Arizona) rivalry continues, but the Kings failed to make the post season this past season as well. Perhaps the Coyotes fate will change.
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