Arizona Coyotes’ November grade and where the team stands

Is it just me, or does the NHL season just go way too fast! How is it already December Arizona Coyotes’ fans? November flew by in a blink of an eye! Luckily we have a recap of the month with a grade on how the team performed.

There has been so much to be thankful for throughout the entire first two months of hockey for the Arizona Coyotes! Whether it be their spectacular team play (at times), or their knack to come back when the game is on the line, we can all be thankful for our ‘Yotes.

I know we have talked about the Coyotes helter-skelter play in the past, but luckily those cases have just been single game issues. The Coyotes have been very resilient as a team, and keep finding ways to bounce back. Unfortunately recently the team has struggled to win games.

Arizona has gone 1-1-2 in their last four games, all against divisional opponents. Three of those games required a shoot out, so these games were close it just hurts to see the team lose these games that can separate them from their opponents in the standings. Arizona currently sits second in the pacific division, 3 points above San Jose and 3 points below Edmonton.

One thing Arizona needs to fix, how they rely on their star players. Phil Kessel is not going to score every night, neither will Nick Schmaltz or Christian Dvorak. The Coyotes need to rely on other guys to help win games. Conor Garland currently leads the team in scoring, and he has been great, but Arizona needs all of their players to factor on the goal sheet. Teams win championships not stars, and that is true in all corners of the ice.

Arizona has had great goaltending this month, and everyone around the league knows it. Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta have truly become one of the best goalie tandems in the NHL. The two players had a historic run in the past month, and are constantly leaned on to steal games for the team. Darcy Kuemper is doing everything for the team, outside of scoring goals that is. He is not afraid to stand up for a teammate.

Arizona finished the month 8-5-3. They captured 19 points in the month of November and managed to score 40 goals while giving up 37. Arizona struggled on the PK and the PP during the past month and their electric run of winning every game that featured a Coyotes power-play goal ended. We once talked about the month of November being a make or break moment for the team, luckily the team survived.

Arizona did not have the best month in the NHL. They simply got by, and hey that is alright with me. Obviously you want to go out and win every night, but that simply can not happen in the modern-day NHL. For that and more I give the Coyotes a grade of B- for the month of November.

Arizona managed to win against teams like the St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals. They managed to go on the road and win key games, but they also managed to give up games that they shouldn’t have. There was a run this month were we gave up leads in the third period three or four games in a row, that is not the recipe for success.

Every point matters in today’s NHL. We missed the playoffs by just 4 points last season, hopefully, the team won’t suffer in April because of a few blown games in November.

The biggest thing for the Coyotes moving forward is that they can grow as a team. We were lucky to see some great hockey last month, but we also saw some bad games here and there. Moving towards consistent play will be key, and I know the team can do it!