After a match up of backup goalies last meeting, Backstrom and Bryzgolov both get the start tonight. The Wild are looking to snap a significant losing streak against the Coyotes, getting swept last season and losing the first match up this season.
Thank you to Yahoo, VS hockey night is the game tonight so a nice clear game stream is making life much simpler for doing this today.
First Period:
It was seemingly a slow start to the period for the Wild, that is until they got one good rush up the ice. Koivu got control of the puck in the Wild zone and started up the ice. He moved the puck to Miettinen by the red line who fed it right back to Koivu who was set up with a 2 on 1 with Brunette. A beautiful feed by Koivu set Brunette up all alone on Bryzgolov, a beautiful move to the backhand gave him the whole top of the net and he wasn't about to miss it.
The action was pretty neutral for the next few minutes until Ekman-Larsson took a questionable hooking penalty that could have just as easily gone against Madden for holding the stick. The Wild power play however continued to struggle, 1-29 in their last 8, and had no more success this time. The Coyotes had as many short handed chances as the Wild did quality power play chances.
Immediately following the power play the Coyotes got a rush from Ekman-Larsson out of the box. He fed the puck to Pyatt as he got drilled by Clutterbuck, unfortunately for the Wild Pyatt was able to bury the shot and tied up the game.
The Coyotes seemed to take most of the momentum after the goal, hitting multiple posts and multiple other scoring chances. However, the Wild took advantage of their opportunities again with 55 seconds left in the period. After briefly controlling the puck in the offensive zone Miettinen got the puck from Koivu and fed a streaking Burns who one timed/ tipped the puck to once again give the Wild the lead.
After 1 period the Stats read:
Shots:
Coyotes 13
Wild 10
Goal Summary:
Minnesota 6:52 Brunette (Miettinen, Koivu)
Phoenix 14:33 Pyatt (Ekman-Larsson, Fiddler)
Minnesota 19:04 Burns (Miettinen, Koivu)
Second Period:
After the first period back and forth pace, the second period was a completely different game. The Wild seemed to be playing a trap of sort, plugging up the neutral zone and not allowing the Coyotes to do anything with speed into the zone.
The Wild seem content to get the puck over the blue line and let hard shots go from the outside. The Wild didn't have a while lots of offensive possession time in the period. A face off with 3 minutes left set up the best chance of the period. The face off was won to the point where a quick shot on net forced Bryzgolov to make a desperation save. The next 2 minutes was the only sustained offensive pressure that the Wild had all period. They managed 11 shots but no goals in the second.
The Coyotes have been looking to get the puck in deep and work it out from the corners. This has produced significantly more offensive zone time but not as many scoring chances as would be expected thanks to solid defense by the Wild. They have had multiple centering attempts just go through the slot or be broken up by the Wild defenders. Most of the 10 shots by the Coyotes were from the blue line since the Wild were doing a great job of taking away passing lanes to the inside.
Overall a good period for the Wild. Nothing big either way, they set the pace for the period and maintained where they left off in the first.
Second Period Shots:
Coyotes 10
Wild 11
No Goals.
Third Period:
The third period got off to a quick start; first by the Coyotes, spending the first minute of the period in the Wild zone getting a couple scoring chances. The Wild countered with a minute plus of pressure in the Coyotes zone their pressure eventually leading to a penalty to Ekman-Larsson for closing has hand on the puck. The Wild once again couldn't make anything of it but looked better, generating 3 shots and a few scoring opportunities this time. After the penalty ended the Wild iced the puck before their power play unit could get off the ice, they called their timeout giving them a chance to rest.The Wild generated 9 shots in the first 7 minutes of the period.
Following their second successful penalty kill, the Coyotes controlled the game for a few minutes again. They seemed to be using long passes though the neutral zone, which the Wild countered by dropping 4 to 5 players back into the defensive zone keeping the play from developing fast.
Another Wild rush produced a holding the stick penalty by Aucoin. The Wild finally made a power play count, Brunette tipped a Zidlicky shot from the point ten seconds into the power play. PMB got an assist on the goal as well and the Wild took a 2 goal lead with just under ten minutes left.
After the goal Cal Clutterbuck took a bad penalty by the bench, getting an shoving match but being the only one to get the penalty. The Wild killed off that penalty in good form only to have Cam Barker take a bad "tripping" penalty where he just took the feet out from under the Phoenix player. The penalty kill was worn out at that point and was taken advantage of when the Coyotes pulled Bryzgolov. Shane Doan took a shot from the point which was deflected by Hanzal and Backstrom had no chance to save it with 58 seconds left. Prior to the goal the Coyotes missed a wide open net that could have made the game closer sooner.
After the goal the wild controlled the puck and got it in deep killing off some of the remaining time. Once the Coyotes got the puck in the Wild zone they pulled Bryzgolov again. Zannon took a shot which seemed to hit him up high but he recovered, the Wild blocked another shot and Havlat cleared the zone. He missed the empty net with 4seconds left but it didn't matter as the Wild regained control and killed off the rest of the time.
3rd Period Stats:
Shots:
Coyotes 12 for a total of 35
Wild 11 for a total of 33
Scoring summary:
Minnesota 10:50 Brunette (Zidlicky, Bouchard)
Phoenix 19:01 Hanzal (Doan , Yandle)
Game Summary:
Backstrom looked great in net tonight though he got the help of the post on many occasions, but credit is given where it was due he forced them to shoot where they did. Koivu established himself a bit tonight, he had 2 assists and was on the ice for all 3 Minnesota goals. Overall it was just a good performance tonight, the wild finally converted a power play for the first time in 4 games. The team showed some resilience, after giving up the tying goal on the road they could have dropped back and given up but they didn't and took the lead back before the end of the first period. Hopefully this can continue on Saturday against the Kings.
Other Notes:
A few thoughts about the struggling power play. The main culprit seems to be the lack of face off wins in the offensive zone. At least on the first power play chance of the game for the Wild they were just getting the puck on net hoping to get something started. Each time they did so, the Coyotes won the next face off and were able to clear the zone, forcing the Wild to regroup in their own zone and start over.
The officials have been good so far this game, only one call made in the game. Both teams have gotten away with plays that could have been called but they are letting them go.
Before the Clutterbuck penalty in the third I was thinking to myself about how I hadn't heard his name much. It was a bad penalty so I was happier before I heard his name.
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