Aucoin, OEL and Summers were the only D that turned up tonight. Yandle, without a doubt, had one of the worst games I've seen him play. Rozsival was a turnover machine, and Rundblad doesn't even look like he's capable of playing D. Offensively, however, he's obviously very talented.
These last two games have been down to turnovers in our own end. Sort it out, and we'll be back to our winning ways.
There really wasn't a new problem in this game from what i saw. We've been starting way, way too many games down 1-0, 2-0, and 3-0. Luck is going to run out on that ****. It sure has the last two games.
Yandle had a tough game. That said, its about effing time our forwards learn to lead a guy skating laterally, backwards, and laterally backwards. My goodness, how many times does he have to tear himself in half to try for a pass because our forwards can't figure which is front and which is back of him?
Rundblad had flashes. Great offensive instincts. Good to see what happens when Whitney plays forward on the PP. Maybe Rundblad can help make that happen more frequently.
Smith gave up one single softy. No big deal. The team hung him out to dry on the first two. His mistake should've been goal one not goal three.
Vermette has not been bad at all. He was so close to another goal tonight. He was in the exact right place and had his stick exactly where it needed to be. I had a clear line of sight to it. It just rolled up on its side at the last instant and he duffed it. This is a player thats right where he needs to be in order to produce. He's just snake bit. I don't want to see him change a thing.
Let's not all go Heaven's Gate, here. We need to start games better. That's it. We need to be ready to go before that first goal against. That's the problem. They're waiting for adversity before they pick up their socks and go balls to the wall. Find that motivation sooner. Problem solved.
Yandle is quickly becoming the second version of Jovo, absolutely...
I can appreciate a guy with the talent that Yandle has, but he is consistently in bad position (the only reason it hadn't burned us before is b/c he would get lucky with the diving poke-checks, etc.).
Defense overall looked awful - people not moving their feet. It is almost like as the win streak progressed, we now assume that in some way, we can cheat our defense up, and everything will be fine. Each one of those break-aways could have been prevented if our D was back about 2-3 feet off of where each was playing. Keep the man and the puck in front of you.
The other alarming piece of this is that there were several times during the game when the puck was loose, and we had two Coyotes skating towards the puck. Once each one saw the other, each assumed that the other guy was going to get the puck on his stick. Those split-seconds of not going hard after the puck (regardless of who you think should be getting their stick on the puck) allowed a Columbus player to get in a position to either break up the play, or get the puck in a situation where the 'Yotes could not take advantage of it. The more time we spend thinking that someone else on the team will step up, we are going to find ourselves behind in those games. Notice how the guys who do not do this (namely Doan, Whitney, Vrbata, and some others like Korpi) are the ones who are regularly contributing points and/or making plays that wind up drawing penalties or setting up our next goal.
It is not easy to stay hot for a long time, but we are getting to the point where the dreaded "complacency" effect is hitting some players...
I know some of you will remember this. Those who have picked up the team more recently this is definitely something you should see...The day Craig Weller took out three BlueJackets in about 10 seconds.
Remembering this always makes me smile. I can't believe it was 4 years ago now already. I miss Weller. I remember that was the year that Winnik and Weller came out of nowhere in camp to play on a line with hanzal. (We also didn't have much talent of course either)
7 wins in their last 21 games and things aren't getting better. They go for 2 weeks not being able to score, then 2 weeks for giving up too many goals and then back to not being able to score again
If this keeps up, Dallas will freaking with the division. Yandle was bad tonight, but what's sad is that he was worse against Calgary. We need him to step it up. Major props to Summers - his hits turned the game for a bit.
When losing I prefer when the problems are fairly obvious as the turnovers and sloppy first periods have been lately. It gets easier to fix it and get back on track then and I'm confident they can turn this around, especially with Klesla back soon.
The question is: Will YOUR Phoenix Coyotes take this game as seriously as they need to? Will they keep the hammer down and focus on the details that have elevated them to the position they currently sit in?
The answer to this question is no, but it can be broken down into three parts: 1st. period - NO, 2nd. period - YES, 3rd. period - NO.
Let's not forget they were playing an NHL opponent and an opponent who's currently playing better than their record would indicate, but there is NO EXCUSE for the effort the boys put forth in the 1st. & 3rd.!
While it's frustrating to watch the Coyotes do little more than dump a huge stinking pile of dung on the ice and not take advantage of San Jose's situation; all is not lost and should they elect to pull their heads out, they can remain competitive in the West.
7 wins in their last 21 games and things aren't getting better. They go for 2 weeks not being able to score, then 2 weeks for giving up too many goals and then back to not being able to score again
I don't get it. I'm ecstatic that the Coyotes are leading the division (by a whopping two points!), but I didn't think they had any business catching up to the Sharks. Is it a player thing? A coaching thing?
I just don't get how this team can forget how to play "coyote-Tippett" hockey over the course of a single week? Fatigue? No hustle, no intense back check, no winning battles, I just don't get how you beat Vancouver & loose like this to Columbus in the same week?
I just don't get how this team can forget how to play "coyote-Tippett" hockey over the course of a single week? Fatigue? No hustle, no intense back check, no winning battles, I just don't get how you beat Vancouver & loose like this to Columbus in the same week?
They thought it would be easy. They were facing a last-place team at home, with all the momentum of a 11-0-1 run still fresh in their minds. They didn't take Columbus seriously until it was too late. With all the veterans in the lineup, you'd think they would avoid that particular mental trap, but not last night.
They thought it would be easy. They were facing a last-place team at home, with all the momentum of a 11-0-1 run still fresh in their minds. They didn't take Columbus seriously until it was too late. With all the veterans in the lineup, you'd think they would avoid that particular mental trap, but not last night.
I disagree. I don't think it was a matter of looking past Columbus. I think we fans have been a little guilty of looking past the warts on our winning streak. I think last night's awful start was pretty standard.
We've surrendered the first goal or two or three in three straight games. We've given up the first goal or three in five out of our last six games.
Let me type that again...
We've given up the first goal or three in FIVE of our last SIX games.
These bad habits are not new.
The Coyotes as a team need to find the urgency to start games strong BEFORE they are down a goal or three. We can't rely on that adversity to bring the team intensity up. That is a dangerous game that rarely works.
There really wasn't a new problem in this game from what i saw. We've been starting way, way too many games down 1-0, 2-0, and 3-0. Luck is going to run out on that ****. It sure has the last two games.
Yandle had a tough game. That said, its about effing time our forwards learn to lead a guy skating laterally, backwards, and laterally backwards. My goodness, how many times does he have to tear himself in half to try for a pass because our forwards can't figure which is front and which is back of him?
Rundblad had flashes. Great offensive instincts. Good to see what happens when Whitney plays forward on the PP. Maybe Rundblad can help make that happen more frequently.
Smith gave up one single softy. No big deal. The team hung him out to dry on the first two. His mistake should've been goal one not goal three.
Vermette has not been bad at all. He was so close to another goal tonight. He was in the exact right place and had his stick exactly where it needed to be. I had a clear line of sight to it. It just rolled up on its side at the last instant and he duffed it. This is a player thats right where he needs to be in order to produce. He's just snake bit. I don't want to see him change a thing.
Let's not all go Heaven's Gate, here. We need to start games better. That's it. We need to be ready to go before that first goal against. That's the problem. They're waiting for adversity before they pick up their socks and go balls to the wall. Find that motivation sooner. Problem solved.
I was going to post my thoughts, but rt already did. Thanks for saving me some time.
