Here's the deal – I've hacked onto Purple Crushed Velvet today to give you all a long-winded and most likely unwanted explanation of what I think you need to watch out for during tonight's game, at least on the Coyotes side.
The Kings are just coming off of a fantasmic win against Buffalo so they are ready and willing to beat the snot out of us Coyotes, we're really going to need to bring it all out tonight and not play half-assed hockey if we want to win. Hopefully Bryzgalov can keep his streak going against the Kings and we can pull off our fourth win in as many meetings.
As for our lineup, it's a never-ending question of 'who will it be tonight?' concerning Freddie Sjostrom and Mathias Tjarnqvist; who will be scratched and who will play? Will either of them make a difference? It's a vicious circle, my friends, one that I'm sure will keep winding around and around until we all puke with dizziness. If you look at numbers only, Freddie is the clear winner and should be in the lineup over Tjarnqvist no questions asked, with 5 goals and 1 assist; Mathias, with only 1 assist to his name this season, should be the bench warmer at this time. Add to that equation the fact that the Carcillo/Zigomanis/Sjostrom line has been having amazing chemistry the last couple of games and I would put my money on Freddie being in the lineup tonight. Luckily for me, I have no money to bet because TGO (Ed. note: I had to say 'TGO' over and over in my head to figure out who she was talking about...silly me, I should have known immediately) always ends up surprising me just when I think I have it all figured out.
Another thing that needs to happen tonight is scoring. The Coyotes aren't second to last in the league when it comes to goals and we need to break that trend or else we have no hope. We can't expect to just ride on Bryzgalov's (admitted) talent in the long run, sooner or later our forwards are going to have to chip in and start doing their jobs.
As for players to watch – assuming Sjostrom isn't scratched, I'd say watch out for him, he has something to prove this game. TGO isn't giving him many opportunities to play and show he's worthy so when he does he needs to step it up and let the world know how bad he wants it. Also, Vrbata, who we can usually count on to get us a goal or two, should be one to keep a corner of your brain focused on. As always, keep a sharp eye on Daniel Carcillo, he likes to run his filthy little mouth so beware of him, he's been controlling himself fairly well lately, he's bound to snap at any moment.
With all that in mind, here's to an exciting game featuring some good old-fashioned rivalry and one of my favorite squees (not of my team) Michael Cammalleri. Cheers to that and let's go Coyotes!
The Kings are just coming off of a fantasmic win against Buffalo so they are ready and willing to beat the snot out of us Coyotes, we're really going to need to bring it all out tonight and not play half-assed hockey if we want to win. Hopefully Bryzgalov can keep his streak going against the Kings and we can pull off our fourth win in as many meetings.
As for our lineup, it's a never-ending question of 'who will it be tonight?' concerning Freddie Sjostrom and Mathias Tjarnqvist; who will be scratched and who will play? Will either of them make a difference? It's a vicious circle, my friends, one that I'm sure will keep winding around and around until we all puke with dizziness. If you look at numbers only, Freddie is the clear winner and should be in the lineup over Tjarnqvist no questions asked, with 5 goals and 1 assist; Mathias, with only 1 assist to his name this season, should be the bench warmer at this time. Add to that equation the fact that the Carcillo/Zigomanis/Sjostrom line has been having amazing chemistry the last couple of games and I would put my money on Freddie being in the lineup tonight. Luckily for me, I have no money to bet because TGO (Ed. note: I had to say 'TGO' over and over in my head to figure out who she was talking about...silly me, I should have known immediately) always ends up surprising me just when I think I have it all figured out.
Another thing that needs to happen tonight is scoring. The Coyotes aren't second to last in the league when it comes to goals and we need to break that trend or else we have no hope. We can't expect to just ride on Bryzgalov's (admitted) talent in the long run, sooner or later our forwards are going to have to chip in and start doing their jobs.
As for players to watch – assuming Sjostrom isn't scratched, I'd say watch out for him, he has something to prove this game. TGO isn't giving him many opportunities to play and show he's worthy so when he does he needs to step it up and let the world know how bad he wants it. Also, Vrbata, who we can usually count on to get us a goal or two, should be one to keep a corner of your brain focused on. As always, keep a sharp eye on Daniel Carcillo, he likes to run his filthy little mouth so beware of him, he's been controlling himself fairly well lately, he's bound to snap at any moment.
With all that in mind, here's to an exciting game featuring some good old-fashioned rivalry and one of my favorite squees (not of my team) Michael Cammalleri. Cheers to that and let's go Coyotes!
Looks like Tracy finally accepted my friendship request and has at last agreed to let me infiltrate her blog, so head on over to True Coyote Love to find out what you should expect from the Kings tonight.
7 comments:
What's this I hear about Blake getting ejected? That wouldn't be ROB Blake, would it?
Yeaaaah....towards the end of the first he was cross checked but there was no call. When the period ended he let the ref have and you could visibly see him cursing up a storm. The ref also seemed to overreact as well and gave him a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct a 10-min misconduct and then the ejection, which I thought was waaaay out of line. I have never seen a player get thrown out for yapping at a ref.
It would seem that, other than the fact that you two may have been two of the only six people in the free world who willingly would have watched the Kings and Yotes, that the sudden disappearance of Mike Cammalleri has to be disheartening.
He started off as the proverbial house of fire, then faded away for most of November. For the Kings to do something, not only will he, Frolov and Kopitar need to light the lamp, they will need to find a consistent #1 minder to keep the opponent from doing the same.
Silencer: Cammy's production is currently more on par with what it was last season. It's just that at the start of the season he was absolutely on fire. With Fro out, Kopi will probably be the one leading this team. But the top line of Cammy, Kopi, and Brown are awesome. All three of them are helping each other become better players.
I just need to clarify that I was right on almost all of my points.
Freddie was on fire all night, taking shots (albeit at the posts and crossbar for the most part). Carcillo surely almost did lose his cool and Vrbata did indeed notch a goal... go me. :)
Yes, Tracy, you rock. I bow down to you and your amazing team. Honestly, I had no idea who Carcillo was until you mentioned him. When he went to the box my man said, "Wow, he looks like a douche."
While he is back on pace with 06/07, that is not what a offensively challenged team like the Kings need. For them to be competitive and have the second half of the season mean anything at all, they need to get huge production from guys like Cammalleri.
We have the same situation in Toronto with suspect goaltending, as Toskala has been inconsistent. However, Nik Antropov and Alexei Ponikarovsky have helped Sundin, and sparked a 5-1-0 run in the last six, with the lone loss a 2-1 defeat to the Bruins.
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