Arizona Coyotes Need Winning Streak — Now
Being in 25th place in the league, and four spots out of a wild card spot, the Arizona Coyotes need to start winning…BIG TIME.
It’s true that the Pacific Division is a weak division, with six points separating the bottom team (Anaheim Ducks-27 points) and the eighth place team (Colorado Avalanche-33 points.) The Arizona Coyotes are falling fast in the West with only 30 points, tied with Edmonton, but in 12th place due to their regulation win total of 14 compared to the Oilers 12.
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Of course this season there’s all kinds of surprises in the Western Conference, and Pacific Division. Who would have predicted that the Anaheim Ducks, who performed well enough to play Chicago in the Western Conference Finals last season, would be at the bottom of the Western Conference standings? They are also tied with Toronto, and Columbus for the lowest point total in the NHL, with 27 points.
Granted, it’s still early, and there’s lots of hockey left to be played… like 50 plus games to be exact.
To analyze the Arizona Coyotes situation, they just have not been consistent at all this 2015-16 season. From winning three in a row, to losing five in a row on the road, you begin to wonder which team will show up when they play next. After an embarrassing loss to the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets, by the score of 7-5 (who says there’s no scoring in the NHL) the team’s fate will not get any easier, as they face the New York Islanders tonight. One break might be that the leading scorer for the Islanders, Kyle Okposo is injured with one of those predominant lower body injuries, and will not play. They still need to stop John Tavares, which is not an easy undertaking.
The Arizona Coyotes are getting back Martin Hanzal and Anthony Duclair, but losing Lindback to the flu.
The Islanders are coming off a two game losing streak, falling to the upstart Colorado Avalanche last night 2-1. Will this help the fate of the Arizona Coyotes? Hopefully. Of course Columbus was coming off a five game losing streak, and that didn’t assist the Coyotes to win. What exactly will motivate them? Head Coach Dave Tippettt was wondering the same thing as he commented to arizonasports.com:
“We’re a poor, poor team with the puck, and we don’t defend very well and we got poor goaltending. That leads to five, six, seven goals a night against. You’re not going to win in the league playing like that.”
To top things off goalie Anders Lindback isn’t feeling well (flu bug that Duclair had) and not be playing tonight. According to azcentral.com’s Sarah McLellan, Louis Domingue will get the start. How will that affect the outcome of this vital game?
This team needs to figure out what is doing wrong, and fix it. The consequences of that not happening can be remembered from last season’s terrible outing. It was just about this time of year when the wheels fell off the Coyotes season, and it was all downhill from that point until the grueling end to a year every player would sooner forget.
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A winning streak helps any sports team, and now is the time for the Arizona Coyotes to get it going. To beat a quality team like the Islanders, who are really not playing that well themselves will speak volumes as to where their season will take them.
There’s time, but either some trades or some benching of players may be necessary to jump-start the defense and goaltending on this team.
It’s time to step up guys !