Schade. Gegen die Los Angeles Kings zog man den Kürzeren, verlor mit 3:5. David LeNeveu im Tor erwischte nicht seinen besten Tag, wurde durch CuJo ersetzt der immerhin bei 22 Schüssen 21 halten konnte. Das fünfte Gegentor war ein Treffer ins leere Tor. JR blieb bei seiner Rückkehr blaß, obwohl er sich so viel vorgenommen hatte. Die Tore für Phoenix erzielten Yanic Perreault (schon wieder!) sowie Oleg Saprykin und George Laraque, der zudem noch einen Assist verbuchen konnte.

Heute geht es schon weiter für die Yotes, Gegner sind die Anaheim Ducks.

Eine Absage gab es bezüglich den Gerüchten um einen Trade von Jovanovski. Die Geschichte um Lisin scheint auch eine Ente zu sein, immerhin spielte er auch gestern wieder mit - im Dress der Coyotes und nicht in Russland. Mehr dazu bei den aktuellen News (nach dem “Bild des Spiels”).

ESPN: [1] Boxscore [2] Recap

Das schreibt AZCentral zum Spiel:

Gretzky yanks LeNeveu in loss

David Vest
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 19, 2006 12:00 AM

LOS ANGELES - Wayne Gretzky often says he doesn’t blame goalies for a defeat, but the Coyotes coach chucked that policy out of a Staples Center window after a 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday afternoon.

“I don’t know what to say; he’s not getting the job done,” Gretzky said of backup David LeNeveu, who gave up three goals on 16 shots before being pulled by Gretzky seven minutes into the second period. “It’s as simple as that. This game is dictated by wins and losses, and I know he’s a better goalie than he’s showed. He just hasn’t gotten it done.”

The Coyotes rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the score, but they couldn’t pull out a victory and lost for the seventh time in eight road games.

Gretzky subtly suggested the other players deserved better from LeNeveu, and especially was miffed at him for allowing LA’s first goal, a one-timer by Alexander Frolov that beat LeNeveu stickside on the Kings’ first power play.

“The first goal should have been a save,” Gretzky said. “Your best penalty killer has got to be your goalie, and that got us on our heels.”

LeNeveu said he never saw the puck come off Frolov’s stick. He also said he did not expect to be replaced after giving up a short-handed goal to Frolov.

“I was a bit surprised,” LeNeveu said. “You never want to be pulled from a game. I felt I was doing the right things out there. I was disappointed I let in that third goal. . . . We were down 3-0. Obviously, something has to change. If that’s the way he (Gretzky) felt, that’s the way he felt.”

After LeNeveu’s benching, Phoenix cut the deficit to 3-2 late in the second period when Georges Laraque and Yanic Perreault netted goals 42 seconds apart.

Oleg Saprykin tied the score at 3 with a flukey, high-arching deflection in the third period, but LA’s Craig Conroy netted the winner when he fired a slap shot around defenseman Derek Morris and past relief goalie Curtis Joseph with 11 minutes left in the game.

“I should have blocked it,” Morris said. “Absolutely.”

Gretzky has pulled his starting goalie six times in 19 games.

Coyotes report
Cheers
Goalie Curtis Joseph stopped 21 of 22 shots in relief of David LeNeveu.

Jeers
Left wing Ladislav Nagy earned a game misconduct penalty for remarks he made to the refs with 20 seconds left in the third period.

Our three stars
1. Alexander Frolov, Kings, two goals, assist.
2. Craig Conroy, Kings, goal, assist.
3. Georges Laraque, Coyotes, goal, assist.

Tonight’s game

Coyotes at Ducks
When: 6 p.m.
Where: Honda Center, Anaheim.
TV/radio: FSNAZ/KDUS-AM (1060).

Ducks update: Anaheim enters the game on a two-game losing streak and has lost three of its past four games. The Ducks have owned the Coyotes in the Ccoach Wayne Gretzky era, having beaten Phoenix nine of the past 10 times.

View from the press box
Given coach Wayne Gretzky’s strong comments about backup goalie David LeNeveu after Saturday’s loss, don’t be surprised if you see a young, undrafted goalie named Josh Tordjman promoted from the team’s top affiliate in San Antonio in the not-too-distant future. Gretzky raved about Tordjman, 21, during training camp, but the Coyotes didn’t think he was quite ready for the NHL. If Phoenix doesn’t trade for goaltending help, it may just give Tordjman a shot sooner than first planned.

Quelle: [3] http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/1119yotes1119.html

Struggling ‘Yotes lose again

Associated press
Nov. 18, 2006 05:10 PM

LOS ANGELES - Alexander Frolov recorded his third straight two-goal game and Craig Conroy netted the go-ahead score with 11 minutes left, leading the Los Angeles Kings to a 5-3 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday.

The Kings, who gave up three goals in a 3:10 minute span late in the third period of a 4-3 loss to Philadelphia on Thursday, surrendered three goals on seven shots by the Coyotes to blow a 3-0 lead.

Georges Laraque and Yanic Perreault scored 42 seconds apart, narrowing the gap to 3-2 with 18:37 left in the second period, and Oleg Saprykin’s fluke goal tied it with 13 1/2 minutes remaining. Laraque passed the puck into the slot, where it took a weird bounce toward the net off Saprykin’s stick and fluttered over goalie Dan Cloutier’s left shoulder and caromed in off the post.

But this time, the Kings didn’t fold. Conroy regained the lead with a slap shot from the top of the left circle that beat relief goalie Curtis Joseph. It was only the second goal for Conroy, who had 22 last season.

Frolov opened the scoring at 11:47 of the first period with a power play goal, then added a short-handed goal 7 minutes into the second period, driving Phoenix goalie David LeNeveu to the bench after 16 shots by the Kings. Rob Blake also had a power-play goal for Los Angeles.

Frolov is the first Kings player with three consecutive multi-goal games since March 1993, when Luc Robitaille had a had trick against Calgary and followed that with two-goal efforts against Ottawa and Edmonton.

Scott Thornton scored into an empty net with 14.1 seconds left, on an assist from Frolov.

Laraque scored on deflection after Jones intercepted a clearing pass right on the blue line and shot the puck toward the net. Perreault extended his goal streak to four games.

Phoenix’s Jeremy Roenick, who had only nine goals and 13 assists with Los Angeles last season, played his first game at Staples Center since leaving and was booed whenever he touched the puck.

Notes: Sean Avery earned his 100th NHL point with an assist on Blake’s goal. … Frolov also had 12 goals in his first 22 games last season, but only nine in his final 47 contests. … Perreault has five goals in seven games with Phoenix. No one else on the team has more than four. … Kings C Derek Armstrong played for the first time since Nov. 4. He missed five games with an injured collarbone. … The Coyotes have won only one of the last 15 road games against the Kings.

Quelle: [4] http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/1118yotes-ON.html

Bild des Spiels:

Knapp vorbei ist leider auch daneben…

Aktueller Artikel von AZCentral.com:

Barnett dismisses rumors of trading away Jovanovski

David Vest
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 19, 2006 12:00 AM

LOS ANGELES - The Coyotes shot down a fast-spreading trade rumor before Saturday’s game.

Despite the team’s 6-13-0-0 record, and newspaper and Internet reports to the contrary, General Manager Mike Barnett said Phoenix has not had a single discussion about trading defenseman Ed Jovanovski to the San Jose Sharks for goalie Evgeni Nabokov.

Furthermore, Barnett said, the Coyotes have not discussed any trades involving Jovanovski with other teams.

“Ed Jovanovski was a key acquisition for our hockey club this summer, and we believe strongly that he will be part of the group that will see us an improved hockey club for the next several years to come,” Barnett said.

“We have no intention of discussing him with any other hockey club.”

Coach Wayne Gretzky called the Jovanovski-to-San Jose rumor, which Canadian-based TSN reported prominently on its Web site this weekend, “ridiculous.”

Jovanovski, who has a no-trade clause in his five-year, $32.5 million contract, said he hopes to stay with Phoenix for the full term.

“I picked this organization for a reason, and I want to win here,” he said.

Roenick razzed in LA
Los Angeles fans booed center Jeremy Roenick every time the ex-Kings center touched the puck, and they really went crazy when LA forward Jeff Cowan sent Roenick flying to the ice with a borderline-dirty check in the third period.

One fan, who presumably read a story in Saturday’s edition of the Los Angeles Times that reported Roenick saying he intentionally showed up at Kings training camp out of shape last season to spite the NHL for the lockout, delivered the following zinger:

“Hey, Roenick, you owe us 5 million bucks!”

The Kings paid Roenick $4.94 million last season.

“I expected it,” Roenick said of the razzing. “It’s not a big deal to me.”

Roenick then spent several minutes discussing another part of the Times story that quoted Kings governor Tim Leiweke calling Roenick’s tenure with the Kings a “major disappointment.”

Roenick calmly said: “If he wants to blame me for our subpar year last year, that’s fine . . . I’ll take it all on myself. It’s my fault . . . I don’t have to throw daggers like certain people. They can throw daggers all they want.”

Ricci update
Center Mike Ricci, who is rehabbing a serious neck injury, played for the team’s top affiliate in San Antonio on Friday and Saturday nights.

Quelle: [5] http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/1119yotesnb1119.html