The Arizona Coyotes face off against the Edmonton Oilers tonight as they wrap up the longest road trip in franchise history. A win will send the ‘Yotes home 5-9 during that 14-game span. A road trip that started off with so much promise (3-0) quickly went south as the team dropped 9 out of 10 games, which brings us to tonight. This road trip was an early season test for the Coyotes, which appears to be a mixed bag of results.
The Edmonton Oilers are 14-12 this season and are in 4th place in the Pacific Division. The team has zero issues scoring goals as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are respectively ranked first and second in the league in scoring (McDavid 48 points, Draisaitl 42 points). The team has scored 89 goals this season, but have allowed 93 against. Their weak defense and goaltending make them a very beatable team, in spite of the fact that McDavid and Draisaitl will most certainly be on the score sheet more than once each.
The Coyotes head into this game 7-12-4, after dropping their last 3 games (against the Kings, Canucks, and Flames) in heartbreaking fashion. The boys could not stay out of the penalty box, and the ‘Yotes could not hold a lead. Against the Kings, the team blew a 3-1 lead and ended up losing 5-3. Ouch. Very sloppy puck play in the third period gave a tough Kings team life.
You can’t do that against good teams, you have to stay disciplined and put them away.
Against Vancouver, the Coyotes blew a 2-1 lead and lost in overtime. Karel Vejmelka was playing great and the team let the Canucks get away. Against the Flames on Monday night, the team went down 2-0 in the 1st, but battled back to make it a 2-2 game. A late 3rd period penalty (lousy call against Jakob Chychrun) gave the Flames the powerplay opportunity they needed and Nazem Kadri made them pay.
Too many stupid, undisciplined penalties leading to powerplay opportunities for the bad guys. The Coyotes cannot afford to make the same mistakes tonight and give McDavid and Draisaitl those chances.
They will make us pay.
As mentioned in previous articles, the Coyotes play very well against teams with top heavy scoring lines. The team’s last win came against the Carolina Hurricanes, who feature a deadly top scoring trio, but pedestrian role players throughout the rest of the roster. The Coyotes dominated the Canes and came out with a win.
Tonight should play in our favor as Edmonton really only has McDavid and Draisaitl. The issue is, they are two of the best players in the world.
The Coyotes win tonight if…
they can beat up McDavid and Draisaitl. We have to get physical with them to slow them down.
they limit McDavid and Draisaitl to one goal or less, each. The team will need to score at least 3 goals tonight to win.
they limit the quality scoring chances. Each time McDavid touches the puck its an Edmonton scoring chance, so body up and give him hell.
Karel Vejmelka has a game. We will need our top goalie to be in all-star form if we are going to win.
they do not over look the rest of the Oilers because of the two top stars. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will feast if we do not respect him.
Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller get going. Time for our big guns to score, again.
they score 4 goals.
The Oilers win tonight if…
McDavid goes berserk. Please for the love of God, do not let him go off tonight.
Draisaitl has a game. Second best player in the game, he can score.
the Coyotes commit stupid penalties. The last three games were lost because of late penalties. This can’t happen tonight.
Stuart Skinner (goalie) actually plays well. Hey, sometimes it happens. “Skinnnner!” Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Karel Vejmelka (6-7-3, with a 3.03 GAA, a .912 save percentage, and 2 shutouts) should be in net tonight and goes up against Skinner for the Oilers, who is 7-6-0, with a 2.92 GAA and a 0.916 save percentage. Face off is tonight at 7:30pm MST and is televised on Bally Sports Arizona.
Give ’em hell tonight boys!
Happy Howlin’!