Preview of Game 7: Phoenix Coyotes

Tomorrow, the Ducks face the Coyotes for the first time this season. They lost arguably their best player in goalie Ilya Bryzgalov over the offseason, so the Coyotes are a much different team. Here’s my preview:

The Coyotes are coming off a shutout loss to the Los Angeles Kings thursday night. It was a game where they did do some things well, but were a bit too sloppy in their own zone and Quick made some spectacular saves. The Coyotes best period was the first period where they mustered 11 shots but really only had a few good chances. The Kings began to change momentum early in the second and when they scored within the first minute of the second period, the Kings played the better game. Goalie Mike Smith was the only reason why the game wasn’t worse as he made some very nice saves to keep it close. Offense was once again hard to come by for the Coyotes. They have 15 goals in 6 games for a 2.50 goals for average, but 9 of those goals came in two games. New starting goalie Mike Smith has been pretty good and the defense has had its moments, but without more scoring this team will not win too many games.

The Ducks are coming off of a game they would like to forget. They got dominated for much of the game. Yeah, yeah two of the Stars’ goals were kind of cheap but the Ducks offense was stifled by the Dallas trap. The Ducks lone goal in the game was very close to not even counting. The Ducks are even averaging less than the Coyotes in goals for average with a 1.83. We’re still waiting for the Ducks offense to produce consistently and it doesn’t help that the RPG line has been shut down so far this season. The Ducks defense and goaltending has been very solid and has looked even greater at a few points so far this season.

Players to Watch:

• PHX – F – Shane Doan: The always dangerous Shane Doan is off to another good start with 7 points in 6 games, however him and his line mates are a combined -7 this season.
• PHX – F – Lauri Korpikoski: He had a very good game against the Kings where he led the team in shots and chances.
• ANA – OFFENSE PLEASE
• ANA – Corey Perry: He has 3 goals in three straight games. Hopefully he can continue that and set up some goals as well.

Prediction:

The Ducks had only a few good shifts again the Stars. I noticed that Bobby Ryan was all over the place and maybe had the best game among the Ducks. I expect Carlyle to light a fire under this team and they’ll have a much better game as they play a weaker Phoenix team.