Thursday's solid 2-0 effort in St. Louis followed an equally impressive win Wednesday in Columbus as the Coyotes wrapped up a road trip that saw them win two-out-of-three in four days and now head home for games Saturday and Monday against Pacific Division rivals Anaheim and Los Angeles, respectively.
Ilya Bryzgalov bounced back in magnificent fashion from Monday's fiasco in New York to become the first NHL goalie to record three shutouts so far this season.
Bryz saved all 32 shots he faced and Dan Winnik provided all the offense the Coyotes would need in the 2nd period when he blistered a shot past St. Louis goalie Ty Conklin. Winnik took a perfect pass from Vernon Fiddler and skated in to the left of Conklin before blasting a shot over Conklin's right shoulder.
Taylor Pyatt chipped in his first of the season and Fiddler earned his second assist on the night when Fiddler hit a cutting Pyatt who looked like he was moving to the forehand before pulling the puck to his backhand and flipping past an out-of-position Conklin.
The Coyotes continued to dominate and frustrate their opponents with aggressive fore-checking, back-checking, and playing the boards, limiting the Blues from getting deep very often on Bryzgalov. But even when they did, Bryz was up to the task, making four great saves in the game including two back-to-back pad saves in the 2nd period, the first sliding to his left to kick out one shot, then to his right extending a right leg to turn away the rebound.
A lot of things went well for the Coyotes, obviously, but one thing really stuck out: just as in the Columbus game, it was obvious that 12 forwards and 6 defensemen all contributed to the wins. In New York Fiddler and Winnik were the only two guys you could come away from that game and say, "yeah, Vern and Danny played hard." Last night and in St. Louis, you can look back and recall a nice play, or two or three by every skater. I'm getting a little tired of hearing "Pack Mentality" as the team's new moniker, but damn was it evident again tonight.
The Coyotes return home with an 8-4 overall record, and 5-2 on the road. Seems reasonable back-to-back wins at home will elevate the home record to that same 5-2 before heading out on the road again.
There was a lot of good news coming out of Phoenix this week with word that there was an agreement in principle for the NHL to close on its acquisition of the team and the look to sell it without the court looming in the background.
It will still take some time to close the deal, but Darryl Jones of the Ice Edge group made a very interesting statement this week and one that Coyotes fans should take some comfort in. Asked about his reaction to it looking like, finally, the NHL would get the team and could move forward on a sale, Jones said this: "...What people (fans in Phoenix) need is to really believe definitively that the team is not leaving, to be able to open up their hearts again."
An insincere statement to curry favor to close a business deal? Maybe. But I don't think so. Jones has said several things over the past couple of weeks that makes me think he and Ice Edge are sincere in wanting to make things work in Phoenix. Instead of putting a time limit on the front end of how long the group will commit to staying in the Valley, or what concessions it will demand from the City of Glendale or the NHL, Jones and Ice Edge talk about what Coyotes fans have been howling about all summer: the importance of repairing the damage done to the franchise over the years; some creative and cooperative marketing with the City and Westgate to "sell" not just hockey, but the Glendale-Westgate-Coyotes experience.
Ice Edge seems to recognize that success on the ice is crucial to the plan, but they also understand it's not fair to expect the fans to come flocking back until we are all convinced these guys mean business and their goal truly is to see hockey succeed in Phoenix.
I'd love it if the team continues to play well and the fans start to trickle back even if it's just to see some exciting and competitive NHL hockey getting played in Phoenix for a change. No one expects attendance to make a huge upswing this year no matter how well the team plays. But to hear Jones and Ice Edge telling us it will be up to to them or whomever ends up buying the team to put all those the pieces in place first in order to make the fans want to come back, and not the other way around, tells me they get it. And I'm really starting to warm to these guys.
It will be interesting to see if they can get to the playoffs, and how that would do for the fan base
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