Another night, another lackluster outing for the Arizona Coyotes. What went wrong in the desert, and what can they do to fix it?
The Arizona Coyotes poor start to the 2016-17 season continued with a subpar effort on Saturday night.
The team lost 3-2 to the Avalanche but the score doesn’t indicate the disparity in play.
Bar a few minutes in each period, the Coyotes played poorly.
They were lucky to still be in contention in the third period, but it seemed possible that they would squeak out at least one point until a familiar mistake occurred.
Here’s some thoughts from tonight’s game:
Where Is The Offensive Zone?
Arizona can’t find the offensive zone.
If they manage to wrestle the puck away from the opposing team, which has been no mean feat for the struggling Yotes, there are two likely outcomes:
(A) They lose the puck in the neutral zone by trying to pass it cross-ice and failing.
(B) They dump the puck in from the blue-line and cannot recover it and establish possession.
The third option where they enter the zone with controlled possession is not happening very frequently this season.
Without players who possess both the size and skill of the LA Kings’ forward group, dump and chase hockey is hard to implement and succeed with in today’s game. That’s showing more and more every time the Arizona Coyotes take the ice.
Players are dumping when they could skate the puck into the zone. They are passing cross-ice through traffic when they could skate the puck into the zone.
When you’re unnecessarily giving up control of the puck, you start the season 2-6.
It’s that simple.
Why Is The Power Play So Powerless?
With four opportunities on the power play, the Arizona Coyotes managed just five shots.
The latter power plays had good movement and the team was cycling the puck well, but they cannot seem to generate scoring chances with any regularity.
Arizona also suffers from a lack of players who are eager to take the chances when they arrive.
The Yotes’ power play is tied for second worst in the NHL.
They’ve converted 10.7% of the time.
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That is not a winning formula. Not at all.
For me, part of the issue lies in playing both Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Alex Goligoski together on the power play.
On paper it makes sense. Some power plays thrive on the double dragon, twin-headed nature of having similar players like OEL and Goligoski together on the same unit.
This experiment isn’t working in the desert.
Together they struggle to keep the puck in the zone.
Goligoski prefers to act as the quarterback, setting up others and cycling the puck. This creates issues when paired with Ekman-Larsson because everyone knows #33 isn’t going to shoot the puck, so it’s easier to play the other four guys and focus OEL in particular.
I would prefer to see Michael Stone on the other side when healthy, and if not him, perhaps give Jakob Chychrun a shot and see what he can do with his own offensive instincts.
Both aren’t afraid to shoot the puck, and that’s a trait the Coyotes lack on the man-advantage.
What’s Eating Louis Domingue?
Louis Domingue put together his best performance from start to near-finish against the Avs.
Then, as has been the case on several other occasions, he allowed a soft goal that should have been a routine save.
Matt Duchene’s game-winning goal is one that Louis has to have.
"“We’re struggling to get wins, and I can’t give up three goals every night hoping we have more wins than we do right now,” Domingue said. “It’s impossible in this league.”"
There seems to be no rhyme or reason to Domingue’s issues.
He makes the difficult save look easy, but is routinely beat by point shots and other shots he has to track from a distance. His problems are the opposite of the issues that plague most goaltenders.
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Despite a strong overall game, one lapse was the difference between the Coyotes getting a point and losing in regulation.
If Domingue can’t sort out his woes with a quickness, the Arizona Coyotes will be looking up from a deep hole before Mike Smith’s “week-to-week” reaches mid-November.