Power Play, Penalties and Persistent Injuries Plague Phoenix

Hanzal, Bryzgalov and Aucoin Stand Guard Against Dallas..Photo by Sharon Murphy

Say that five times fast. November has not been kind to the Phoenix Coyotes. Winning only 2 of their 7 games this month there’s really not a lot to be thankful for. With Jason LaBarbera in net and not playing to potential you have to rely on your defense…and guess what?? We’ve got our heavy hitters out on “lower body injuries”.

Kurt Sauer, who hasn’t played a game yet, Zybnek Michalek, and Ed Jovonovski are all day-to-day or week-to-week. You do the math on the losses..Not that Adrian Aucoin, Keith Yandle haven’t tried to fill the void but they’ve had to pull some of our AHL guys in the way of Shaun Heshka and David Schlemko to help out.

Another sore spot is our power play which, in true Coyote fashion has suffered. I don’t know if it’s a balance problem, the guys don’t like odd numbers on the ice because of some weird zen thing but either we need to pull it together or get a Buddhist priest to exorcise them of their demons.

Last time we scored on a power play? Oh somewhere around the first of the month, November 7th to be exact. There have been about 8 power play chances over the last 2 games against the Stars and the Lightning. And the guys wasted all of them. My diagnosis? Too much playing with the puck. I understand that just randomly shooting isn’t going to get you anywhere but neither is literally passing the puck between 2 players for about 30 seconds. At some point you need to drive to the net and get it in. Oh and a note to Keith Yandle..stop shooting from the blue line. I know you love it but it’s not working. Try getting closer and let’s see what happens.

The guys showed a real fondness for the penalty box during the last couple of games. A bad roughing call against Paul Bissonnette, fighting calls against Bissonnette and Jimmy Vandermeer plus boarding and game misconduct (Jimmy again) all contributed to the Tampa Bay loss that night. Holding and delay of game call have also become the norm over the last few games and it’s all needless. Can’t score if you aren’t on the ice and even though our penalty kill is far more impressive than the power play, why risk it?

The good stuff? Radim Vrbata, Scottie Upshall and Adrian Aucoin are showing their stuff offensively and a couple of the newbies scored their first goals. David Schlemko got his Saturday night and Paul Bissonnette got his Monday night. Bissonnette got close to the Gordie Howe hat trick, coming up with the goal and the fight but…alas no assist. Better luck next time Biz Nasty.

As Thanksgiving approaches, I’d like to be able to give thanks for a few wins before then and the return of our fallen brothers, get well soon Z, Jovo and Sauer!