They say that when you reach rock bottom, there’s nowhere to go but up. For the Arizona Coyotes this has been painfully true all season. After 33 games, they find themselves mired in the league’s basement with an overall record of 7-21-5 and a total of 19 points.
They have gone 5-6-2 in their last 13 games, including a 3-game winning streak on the road against Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. While not a great record, it’s leaps and bounds ahead of their 0-10-1 start.
Goalie Scott Wedgewood (#40) of the Arizona Coyotes
While the Coyotes (and Head Coach Rick Tocchet in particular) are reluctant to use it as an excuse, the team’s early road schedule has certainly been a factor. Arizona has played 21 road games in the first 66 days of the season, the most in the league. This has been the source of 17 of their 26 losses on the season.
As Tocchet has mentioned, their time on the road has not allowed for many practice days. These are essential to a team full of young talent (comprising five rookies and three second-year players) learning the system of a new Head Coach. Many of the team’s lapses can be traced to momentary lapses in positioning and defensive coverage. Indeed, they have been competitive in the majority of their games…and have even dominated significant stretches of play with their speed and physicality. But they have a tendency to give up goals within 2 minutes after scoring a goal, and in the first or last minute of a period.
The team’s record could look significantly better if they were just a little better at either scoring goals or preventing them. Their goal differential of –39 is the worst in the league.
The Coyotes are being led offensively by rookie Clayton Keller, who leads the team in goals and points, despite not having scored a goal since November 6th. Nobody else on the team has reached double digits in goals or the 20-point mark. The Coyotes don’t have a single player among the top 50 in goals, assists, or points.
Defenseman Luke Schenn (#2) of the Arizona Coyotes
Despite Keller’s slowed scoring pace, the rest of the team is getting more balanced scoring…just not enough of it. Brendan Perlini is second on the team with eight goals, followed by Christian Fischer and Anthony Duclair with seven apiece. Oliver Ekman-Larsson leads the team’s defensemen with six goals and Derek Stepan and Tobias Rieder each have five.
The Coyotes have been shut out twice in their first 33 games, and held to only one goal on eight other occasions. Nineteen of their 26 losses have been by two goals or fewer, with 10 of those bearing a margin of only one goal (including four in overtime and one in a shootout).
Their power play is 24th best in the league at 16.66%, but has shown steady improvement as of late. Additionally, their penalty kill is a respectable 14th best in the league at 81.81%, allowing only six power play goals against in their last 57 short-handed situations.
On the plus side, all of these road games early in the season mean that the Coyotes will spend much of the last 51 games of the season at home. That begins tonight with a
Defenseman Jason Demers (#55) of the Arizona Coyotes celebrates an assist on the second goal of the game with his teammates.
five-game home stand, their longest of the season so far. The team can also look forward to a seven-game home stand and another five-game stretch on their home turf.
This also translates to many more home practice days. This should give the team the opportunity to work on systems and iron out the wrinkles. Time will tell if they can cure themselves of the ills that have plagued them in the early part of the season or if they will remain susceptible to their own lapses in concentration. With the excuses now out of the way, it’s time for Tocchet to show that he can turn this team around and instill in them the consistency that this franchise has lacked for several seasons.
All images courtesy of Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com
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