Coyotes need to “win” the game tonight against Wild
By Jim Lynch
Although the Arizona Coyotes found a way to win against the St Louis Blues and Washington Capitals, the past two games have been anything but great. With that in mind, tonight needs to be different.
The Minnesota Wild are not the best team in the NHL, with a record of 6-11-1 they are far from the top of the NHL standings. That does not mean they can not win a game. Minnesota found a way to come into the Coyotes home and win a game earlier this month, so the Coyotes need to be on their best tonight.
To say the Coyotes have played their best hockey the past two games would be a lie. They barely found a way to sneak out with a victory against both the Capitals and the Blues. Although the team walked away with a “win” on paper that does not mean we can’t strive for better.
Tonight against the Wild I want to see the Coyotes play as a team and take down their opponent. Only when the ‘Yotes start rolling their four offensive lines together will the team succeed. Arizona found a way to get a win with just a few plays here or there, but tonight let’s see them downright handle the Wild.
It is time for the Coyotes to play well in all three zones, and not rely on their goaltending too heavily. Antti Raanta and Darcy Kuemper have been superb in the last few games. The two goalies have had to make unreal saves all night long, and against a weaker Minnesota team that only has 47 goals this season that should be no issue.
60 minutes, that’s all the Coyotes need to do. They need to go out and play a full 60-minute game. If they do that tonight there will be no shoot out, despite how much we love the OT set up let’s skip it for a game tonight.
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The Wild is a team the Coyotes will be seeing a lot more of in a few years when Arizona takes the jump to the central division. Let’s start things off with a bang tonight and win!