The Arizona Coyotes return home from a 14-game road trip to face the Boston Bruins. Tonight’s game is the first home game for the Coyotes in about a month. Although the team is no longer on the road and away from normal life, they are tasked with playing the best team in the NHL. Fun.
Fresh off a whooping at the hands of Connor McDavid, the Coyotes look to rebound against a team that should walk out of Tempe with a win. Sorry, but the ‘Yotes are all but guaranteed to lose this game tonight.
So how should this game play out? I do not have a crystal ball, but if you look at the strengths of the Bruins (which is pretty much everything) and the weaknesses of the Coyotes (we can’t stop shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties, faceoff wins, scoring) the math does not favor the desert dogs.
Boston has a loaded roster. Take a look at their top 6 and try to find a weakness. Their star power and well, star depth, create matchup nightmares for pretty much any opponent. I mean, crap, their third line has Taylor Hall and Charlie Coyle. The Coyotes wish they had either of them.
Hall played most of one season here and bolted.
Thanks for nothing Taylor Hall.
Brad Marchant, Patrice Bergeron, Jake Debrusk, Pavel Zacha, David Krejci, David Pastrnak, Nick Foligno, Craig Smith, oh my…
The Coyotes desperately need Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller to get back on track. After a fast start to his return from IR, Schmaltz has been ice cold in the past few games. We need him to find his game, and fast. After a red hot start to the season, Keller has come back down to Earth as well. Keller, we need you!
The Coyotes win if…
Schmaltz and Keller look like McDavid and Draisaitl on Wednesday night. We need these two to wake up and light it up.
they play Karel Vejmelka and he is the best player in the world. They will need him at his absolute best to beat the best team in hockey.
Boston overlooks this team and falls into the ‘trap game’. This could be a game where Boston overlooks the Coyotes and the team makes them pay. Good teams win the games they should. Boston is good.
Jakob Chychrun is the shutdown, two-way defender that he desperately wants other teams to see. If dude wants out of town, teams are going to have to meet the Coyotes asking price. What better way to make that happen than to be a gamer?
they win majority of the faceoffs and control the puck.
they find a way to limit Marchant, Bergeron, Debrusk, Hall, Zacha, Krejci, Pastrnak, etc. Yeah, right. I laughed writing this too.
The Bruins win if…
the Coyotes shoot themselves in the foot by committing stupid penalties. We have done this so many times in the past 5 games that you would think this was part of our game plan. No bad penalties. Teams that do this are typically outmatched and are desperate. Sound like us lately?
they get up early in the game. If the score is 2-0 in the first ten minutes of the first, its game over and get ready for a long night.
they do not fall into the ‘trap game’.
they just play their game. They are the top team in the NHL for a reason. They literally do everything well.
Hopefully the Coyotes play Vejmelka and give themselves a chance to win. If they already think this game is over, do not be surprised to see Connor Ingram in the crease for his encore (last game he was lit up 8-2). The puck drops tonight at 7:30 MST and can be seen on Bally Sports Arizona. Give ’em hell tonight boys!
Happy Howlin’!