A week ago, the Arizona Coyotes lost to the St. Louis Blues 6-5. Questions arose about their whole team. Since then, the Coyotes have managed to beat the three most recent Stanley Cup champions: the Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning, and now the Colorado Avalanche as the team scored in overtime to win 4-3 on Thursday (Nov. 30). Here are some takeaways from the game.
Alex Kerfoot Keeps Getting Better
There’s no denying that Kerfoot didn’t have a great start with his new team. During the first couple of games, he looked lost on the ice and was poor defensively. He often ended the night with a plus/minus stat in the minus category. Now, he’s improved on his game and has nine points so far.
“It’s always different coming to a new team, especially if you’ve been in one system for a long time,” Kerfoot said. “So it was an adjustment. I didn’t feel great about my game at the beginning of the year, but I feel a lot more comfortable now. I’m feeling much better, the teams playing a lot better and I’m happy with where things are.”
Kerfoot has also been placed on the power play where he got an assist off a beautiful pass to Nick Schmaltz. It shows that the team trusts him. Head coach Andre Tourigny was quick to say how much he means to the team and how big the offseason addition was.
“I think he’s a huge leader, especially in the peak of our game,” Tourigny said. “Since (Barrett) Hayton and (Jack) McBain went down, he jumped to center and he plays against the top six every night. He’s the first guy off the board when we kill penalties. He’s huge for us. I think his understanding of the game, and his understanding of what makes the team successful is unbelievable. I think he was a huge addition for us.”
Kerfoot has been centering the third line with Michael Carcone and Jason Zucker which has been one of the best Coyotes lines this season. Carcone with his goal against the Avalanche is now tied with Lawson Crouse for the team lead in that category. It shows that the chemistry that has been talked about off the ice is showing on the ice.
The Power Play is Back On Track
For a couple of games, the Coyotes have struggled on the man advantage. Going zero for seven in a single game isn’t great for what was at one point one of the best power plays in the league. However, that changed last night. Despite not doing much on their first opportunity, early on in their second chance, Clayton Keller found Kerfoot who found Schmaltz who shot it right past Alex Georgiev to tie the game at two.
The power play didn’t stop there. They put the heat on Georgiev in overtime after Bowen Byram was sent to the penalty box. That pressure led to Nick Bjugstad’s game-winning goal to lift the Coyotes over the Avalanche.
It was shades of the power play that we saw at the beginning of the season that was on fire and could make endless passes to each other. Bjugstad saw that and was proud of how the special teams played.
“I think special teams is huge,” Bjugstad said. “We had a big special teams goal. Kerfoot made a great play to Schmaltzy who got one there. We created chances that wore their D down. We had possession and we gained momentum from that. I think that’s what made the play happen through Maccelli. It was good to get a power play and connect.”
This Coyotes Team is Special
Not just any team can take down the three most recent Stanley Cup champions in three straight games but the Coyotes just did to improve their record to 11-9-2 which is good enough for fifth place in the Central Division and the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.
Related: 3 Takeaways From Coyotes’ 3-1 Win Over Lightning
Even when the team is playing poorly and letting their opponent fire numerous shots on Connor Ingram, they find a way to stay in the game and win. Tourigny knows it shows that this team is coming out of its rebuild and it’s because of the chemistry and level of competitiveness in the locker room.
“I think that says we are competitive and we can compete against anybody in the league,” Tourigny said. “I think that’s what it says. The other thing it says is the character and the brotherhood in that room, the care level of those guys are to the roof. We said it all the time how much about the great group we have and how much those guys are friends, how much they love each other, how much they care for each other, and all of it.”
Perhaps one of the toughest parts of the schedule this season for the Coyotes is over and they come out of it on a three-game winning streak. They still have a long home stretch in front of them as they play three more games at Mullett Arena which has once again been a place where everyone on the team loves playing including newcomer Kerfoot.
“You hear a lot of things from outside Arizona about the arena but when you come here it’s not what people think it is,” Kerfoot said. “We love playing here. We love playing in front of the crowd here. It doesn’t matter how many of them are out there. They come and they support us and all you need to do in this league is win games. Success will bring people to games, it will put people in seats, and when we start winning games, more people are going to come.”
The Coyotes will play the Blues for the second time in 10 days at Mullett Arena on Saturday evening as they look to continue their win streak and keep gaining ground in the Central Division on their aforementioned divisional opponents.
