The Arizona Coyotes need Phil Kessel to make a difference
By Jim Lynch
I am going to be honest, this season I haven’t been the biggest Phil Kessel fan for the Arizona Coyotes. That being said he now has an opportunity to prove me wrong.
The Coyotes have struggled at doing a lot of things recently. The most important thing is scoring goals on the power play. Now, do not get me wrong, the fact that the Coyotes blew a game late to the Los Angeles Kings a few nights ago does not have me feeling very confident right now. However, that does not change the fact that if the Coyotes can get some more consistent scoring from their special teams these losses would turn into wins.
Phil Kessel has not had to lead a team on his own since he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs. When he was with Pittsburgh he could rely on players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to help get him wins when the team needs it. Now in Arizona he still is not being asked to lead the team, rather he just needs to be more of a difference-maker.
Now I know that Kessel is not scoring goals at the same rate he used to. He only has 11 goals this season, if he were to pass his total from last season he would need to score at almost a pace of every other game, as Kessel still has 16 goals to go to hit 27 goals like he did last year.
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Rather than just look at his regular goals I think it is important to note that he leads the team in power-play goals at 7. More than half of Kessel’s goals are being netted from the power play, Kessel scoring means the Coyotes power play is active and producing.
Kessel is never going to lead a team or a line to a successful year. However, when he sits on the opposite side of the ice on the power play and tries to score on the one time I can not help but smile. Once this team figures out their zone entries on the man advantage I want to see Phil Kessel score a lot more goals!