Last night, the Arizona Coyotes battled the New York Rangers, whom even amongst the loss of goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to a freak injury, have been able to churn out the points. Even though the ‘Yotes have seemed to be doing better, their home record has been less than impressive, lately.
Back to back at home; it doesn’t happen often, but that doesn’t mean the team isn’t used to it. For the Coyotes, two different sets of back-to-back’s seemed to be an interesting situation.
Coach Dave Tippett commented on the seemingly odd situation, saying, “we do this on the road all the time.”
Unlucky offense
A fast, offensively powerful opponent means that the Coyotes had to match their game. New York is known for their offense, i.e Rick Nash. With the Coyotes best offense being out, the underdogs have to find a way to execute and they had to find a way to score or it’s easy to be rolled right over.
It seems as though there is a lack in sturdy offense, especially with their recent player losses. Everyone is trying to make an effort and show that they deserve a permanent spot on the team, but their luck seems to be reversed.
“The work is there, the guys are trying hard but we need some execution. We need to finish some plays. There are some mistakes that are getting made at critical time,” Tippett said about what needs to change. “You saw in the game tonight that a team like New York will capitalize on our mistakes.”
They’re getting the chances, but the puck just isn’t going where they want it to (or even need it to go). Toby Rieder even had a penalty shot, but NYR goaltender Cam Talbot was quick to read the 5-hole attempt. An apparently good situation, turned into a missed opportunity.
“You know, I think we played hard for about 50 minutes. I had a great chance on the penalty-shot, if I score the game goes the other direction, maybe,” said Rieder.
Defensive misfortunes
The goal that changed the entire pace of the game happened not on the Rangers power play, but instead, the Coyotes.
Short-handed goals happen, especially when you have a fast-paced team, but when the Coyotes aren’t capitalizing on chances, this kind of thing happens to them. During this particular SHG, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson breaks his stick in his offensive zone, they lose puck possession after he tries to get back to grab another and it ultimately leads to a goal by Kevin Hayes.
Completely unfortunate situation that lead to a goal that most likely would’ve been stopped in any other circumstance. This is the kind of stuff that has plagued the Coyotes all season, and it’s costed them wins.
“Obviously I passed it over to Yands (Keith Yandle) and came up… I was lining up for the one-timer, and got a broken stick in my hands. So all that I can say is it’s just a bad break,” OEL said about the short handed goal.
NYR eventually persisted and got the final score up to 5-1 after goals from Chris Kreider, Rick Nash, Kevin Hayes, Marc Staal and Lee Stempniak.
On the road again
The Coyotes only play five games at home the entire month of February due to a heavy road schedule, and two on consecutive nights means that they are going to be right back on the plane again to face their next opponent, the Colorado Avalanche.
Their road win percentage has been exponentially higher than their home-stands. They set a franchise record this season with nine losses in a row at home, and they seem to be going down that same path with seven losses, if they don’t change something soon.
“There’s a lot of work there. I can’t involve the guys for work in the last two games, even in the Detroit game. There’s work there but we need more than work,” said Tippett about their home losing streak.
Things to know
- Joe Vitale returned after being sidelined 9 games for an upper-body injury. In lieu of this, Brendan Shinnimin was sent down to the AHL.
- The Coyotes play the Colorado Avalanche on Monday, February 16th in Colorado.
- The Coyotes will be back home at Gila River on Saturday, February 21st for their last home game of the month against the Tampa Bay Lightning before they embark on a trip to the East.
Not nutritious, but certainly delicious, this individual mug cake is sure to please any chocolate craving. While being healthy and eating correctly is a way of life, occasionally a “cheat day” is in order. When that day rolls around, this recipe is sure to please — it takes about 5 minutes in total to make and if you’re going all out, adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream seals the deal on this sweet treat.
Microwave Chocolate Mug Cake
4 tbsp All Purpose Flour (If you have a gluten allergy, as I do, sub in GF flour)
2 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Cocoa Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
3 tbsp Milk (Again coconut or almond milk would substitute well here)
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 tbsp Apple Sauce
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tsp Chocolate Chips (If you’re a fan of mint, dropping in an Andes Mints in lieu of chocolate chips is borderline magical)
Mix all ingredients together thoroughly and microwave for 2 minutes. Top with a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream and enjoy!
By Rochelle Bergman
Everyday of our lives we do things we need to do. We call them chores. Some chores are fun and some are well..er not so much fun. Lets all face it, work can be a chore sometimes. Some are yucky while others are kind of nice to do. Then there are the special ones, the chores we do from our heart and soul.
In Newfoundland, Canada there is a story about a dad, name Todd who loves his son, name Carter very much. (Now is the time to get up and grab a few Kleenex.) His son was born with huge medical problems from cerebral palsy, enlarged heart to deafness and brain bleed.
As a parent with a special needs child, the feeling of helplessness is overwhelming. It must have been unbearable as parents to not be able to help their child. They needed to do something to help so they came up with a two goal plan. Todd and his wife, Kimberly, decided to help support charities that help kids like their son. Todd came up with an interesting idea. It is what the NHL is doing right now and in every game. Any ideas? He built a skating rink in his huge back yard. The rink has boards, lines, and logos. They wanted to raise money by selling ad space on the boards. Thirty-five ads at $200 a piece= $7,000. The second goal was to increase public awareness about the different charities so Todd embedded the charity logos into the ice itself.
The name of the project: Reason for the Rink.
Once the local media heard about this story it got bigger faster. The donations poured in from local companies, from other families, and from local industries. All monies received go to the charities that help Carter. These charities include: Cerebral Palsy Association, Rainbow Riders Therapeutic Riding N.L., Easter Seals and the Mazol Shriners. So far the total amount of money raised is around $115,000.
His dad pays for the upkeep of the ice rink. The rink is popular. It was used for Winter Classic Style Hockey Games. Last year, Easter Seals used the rink for their Sledge Hockey day. It was the first time on any ice rink for many of the kids! That would have been a sight to see, all that laughter and excitement in the air!
Todd’s next goal: to reach $1,000,000 for the charities. What about the ice rink? As long as the rink is needed and used, Todd will be out in the backyard.
A day after the Nashville Predators beat the floundering New Jersey Devils 3-1, where coach Peter Laviolette shuffled the lines for no other reason than he thought that they should be playing better hockey on their four game win streak to lead the NHL with 82 points, GM David Poile brought back former Preds Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli from the Toronto Maple Leafs for Olli Jokinen, prospect Brendan Leipsic and a first-round pick in 2015.
Franson, 27, a defenseman, has 6 goals & 26 assists in 55 games and Santorelli, 29, a center, has 11 goals & 18 assists. Both are pending unrestricted free agents.
Predators general manager David Poile said in a statement on the Predators website;
“In preparation for the 2015 playoff run, our goal was to add a veteran defenseman who could play in all situations and a proven forward who could move up and down lineup based on the situation. We were fortunate to do this in the same transaction with players who are in the prime of their careers more than two weeks before the trade deadline in order to give them more time to contribute and gel with their teammates.
“Both Cody and Mike were drafted, developed, and began their NHL careers here. They know our organization and still have former teammates and friends on the roster. We are fully confident that they will seamlessly fit into our team.”
In 48 games, Olli Jokinen had 3 goals, 3 assists and 6 points as a Nashville Predator, which is quite a dropoff from his last year as a Winnipeg Jet (2013-2014) where in 82 games, he had 18 goals, 25 assists and 43 points. However, as an elder statesman of sorts, his off-ice leadership role had been geared more towards the younger players as was shown on in the web series – Nashville Predators Beneath the Ice, where his family was making sure that the younger Nordic players (including Filip Forsberg who recently broke a previously held record for Preds rookies with 19 goals) were being taken care of.
His wife today tweeted a tongue-in-cheek tweet about Olli being traded in the middle of the season (she’s already apologized because some people don’t have a Finnish sense of humor):
Katerina Jokinen
@MrsJoki
Never did like mustard yellow
11:26 AM – 15 Feb 2015
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