There were some good things during the drubbing the Ducks handed the Coyotes to end their winning streak at seven games and drop them to second place in the Pacific Division.
It It was Bea’s birthday (technically the day before her birthday) so we celebrated a little with a hockey game and a scoreboard wish.
Kelsey got yet another puck from Keith Yandle during warmups, he’s really good to her since she at one time was the ONLY one with any sort of “GO YANDLE” sign down at the ice.
We had three of the kids and two of the kids’ friends with us for a full house at the hockey game, so it was good times for the family thing. It’s always more fun to win, but just spending time with the fam is always a good thing.
However….
The Coyotes (Keith Yandle, DEFENSEMAN in fact) managed to score on only one of six power plays, including a double minor. Jonas Hiller was cranking hard in the Ducks goal, but they still should have scored another couple times. They weren’t scrambling around like the bad old days (last year and forever) on the PP, but they still need to find a way to capitalize on the chances. They showed a lot of discipline and kept their OWN penalties to a minimum (Bissonette in particular resisted constant baiting from Parros), so the potential to put the whomp on the Ducks was certainly there.
Bryz needs to stay home and stop thinking he knows how to handle the puck behind the net. He handed the puck to the Ducks with a bonehead pass. I’m actually not sure if they scored on that one, but if they didn’t it was certainly close. It’s not the first time he’s done it, we love Bryz and his contribution to keeping the Coyotes in contention for anything can’t be argued, but he needs to stay in front of the goal line. He let in at least one soft goal, toom but mostly he wasn’t getting the support he needs from his team.
Jovo, even after coming up with a hat trick game, is definitely NOT the first defensman on the team. He’s inconsistent in everything escept being really slow. One goal was directly his fault, he lost a one-on-one ‘battle’, letting their guy past him like he was standing still instead of skating very slowly backwards. Jovo only turned around after the guy was already past. We heard boos in the crowd on his next shift when he touched the puck, no not from us. He is the highest paid guy on the team and he skates like he’s already half retired to his new castle in Florida.
Mostly, though, it just seems like the Coyotes once again let their foot off the gas when they were ahead. They had the Ducks completely handled in the first period and into the second, the level of play wasn’t even close. Then, somehow, it seemed like they forgot who the heavy hitters on the Ducks are (Getzlaf, Ryan, Perry) and the show began for the Ducks.
Happily the rink wasn’t overrun with Ducks fans, like it would be for a Wings game for example, so we didn’t have to listen to the cheers and jeers of the opposing fans.