Phoenix Coyotes on the “Nice” List

As we roll into the holiday season the Coyotes are boasting a 4 game winning streak. Starting on Black Friday (which of course is the true start to the holiday season) against the Dallas Stars, the Phoenix Coyotes have pulled out games of great play.

The keys? Hard to say but each member of the team appears to be playing a part. And maybe that’s it. All the post game talk of “pack” mentalities and teamwork could be what is making the difference. There have been some standouts however. Matt Lombardi, Scottie Upshall and Taylor Pyatt have all been making great offensive strides. General Manager Don Maloney mentioned that he believes Upshall has great potential and a fantastic season ahead. Ilya Bryzgalov has been extraordinarily solid in net and even in his 9th straight start against Ottawa recently was able to hold off the Sens with 26 saves.

Coming up is a rather rough road trip playing nearly every day for 4 days against the Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Columbus Blue Jackets and finally against the Anaheim Ducks. If they can keep the defense off the injured list we should be ok but Ed Jovonovski is still struggling with his lower body injury. And I worry that Coach Tippett may be making too many demands on Ilya Bryzgalov. He’s been great in net and I am all for riding the hot goalie but there’s only so many game you can get out of them before they break.

Here’s hoping they keep it rolling all through the month. It’s sure on my Christmas list.

Posted by Sharon Murphy on Dec 7 2009. Filed under Pacific, Phoenix Coyotes, Western Conference. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.