Arizona Coyotes Face Anaheim Ducks in Two Game Set at Home
The Arizona Coyotes try to shake off two home losses to the LA Kings by beating the Anaheim Ducks tonight and Wednesday.
The Arizona Coyotes play host to the Anaheim Ducks (6-9-3 – 15 points) for two games beginning tonight and concluding on Wednesday. The Ducks are currently in 8th place in the Honda West Division with 15 points in 18 games. They have scored 10 fewer goals than the Coyotes (44 to 34) and have given up one more (50 to 49).
The entire 8-team division is separated by only seven points from top to bottom (22 to 15), but when your team only plays the other seven teams over and over again within a 56-game truncated season, every game and every point counts.
Thus far, the Coyotes are about as “500” a team as you can get with regard to winning percentage. They are currently 7-7-3, with a home record of 4-4-3 and an “away” record of 3-3-0, and they are in fifth place. You can’t get much more vanilla than that, eh?
The Ducks’ winning percentage is a meager .471, as they lost their past two games to the Minnesota Wild 3 to 1 on Thursday and then 5 to 1 on Saturday. In a move that shocked many Ducks fans, the team just put 2019-20 scoring leader Adam Henrique on waivers.
But what else do we know about these Ducks from Anaheim as they invade (ever see an invading duck?) Gila River Arena? Their goalkeeper John Gibson, much like the Yotes’ Darcy Kuemper has done, has kept the Ducks competitive in games while their offense has floundered and their defense has more holes than swiss cheese. Their captain is center Ryan Getzlaf,and their leading scorers include Max Comtois (7 G 2 A – 9 pts), Jakob Silfverberg (3 G 4 A – 7 pts), and Rickard Rickell (1 G 7 A – 8 pts). Two of the best defensemen for the Ducks include Cam Fowler and Kevin Shattenkirk.
Let’s see if the recently unsettled, fire drill version of the Arizona Coyotes can find some structure and composure against the bottom-dwelling Anaheim Ducks. The timing is certainly good, as the Desert Dogs will host the high-flying, third-place Colorado Avalanche at the end of the week (Friday and Saturday). The Yotes need to get themselves back together as cohesive, swarming 5-man units now to grab 4 points against the struggling Ducks and to prepare for playing the very talented and aggressive Colorado Avalanche.
You know, that team that blew the Coyotes out of the playoffs last season.
Let’s hope the home town boys can focus on the task at hand and beat the Anaheim Ducks convincingly tonight. Then we’ll worry about Wednesday. Let’s go Coyotes!