NHL: Schlimme Niederlage gegen Minnesota

25.11.2006 von Coyote.

Mit viel Ambitionen ging man ins Spiel, in ein Spiel, in dem man gewinnen hätte müssen. Am Ende stand ein 0:4 auf dem Scoreboard - nicht einmal ein Tor gelang den Coyoten gegen Minnesota. Das kostet echt Nerven langsam, denn immer wenn man denkt es geht endlich aufwärts kommen solche Dinger.

Wenn man dem Ganzen wenigstens etwas positives entnehmen will dann, dass David LeNeveu für CuJo nach dem 4. Tor auf’s Eis durfte und eine durchaus gute Leistung zeigte.

ESPN: Boxscore Recap

Das schreibt AZCentral.com:

Minnesota blanks Coyotes
Leneveu replaces CuJo late in third period

Associated Press
Nov. 24, 2006 02:35 PM

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Niklas Backstrom recorded his first NHL shutout and the Minnesota Wild scored three special-team goals to beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4-0 on Friday.

Starting his second straight game in place of Manny Fernandez, Backstrom stopped 28 shots. He posted 18 shutouts the past four seasons while playing the Finnish Elite League. Backstrom signed as a free agent on June 1.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Branko Radivojevic scored power-play goals, Pascal Dupuis added a short-handed tally, and Mark Parrish scored at even strength for the Wild, 9-1-1 at home. Kurtis Foster and Todd White each had two assists.

Minnesota posted its second shutout of the season. The Coyotes were blanked for the fourth time, third by a 4-0 score.

Curtis Joseph was shaky in stopping 18 shots for Phoenix and was replaced by David Leneveu after Radivojevic made it 4-0 at 6:57 of the third period.

The Coyotes, who lost for the third time in four games, are an NHL-worst 1-9 on the road.

Phoenix, which has the league’s 29th-ranked power play, was 0-for-5 with the extra man. Minnesota, which has the league’s best home power play and fourth overall, was 2-for-6.

The Wild took a 1-0 lead late in the first period during one of their two 5-on-3 advantages.

Foster raced to a loose puck at the point and poked it ahead to White, who used a touch pass to find Bouchard alone in front. Bouchard moved the puck from backhand to forehand, before deking Joseph, who lost for the second time in 12 career starts against Minnesota.

After Parrish beat Joseph with a slap shot between the pads midway through the second period, Brian Rolston avoided a slash by Ladislav Nagy, to begin a 2-on-1 late in the period. Dupuis took a pass from Rolston in the right circle, and held the puck for a few seconds before putting a wrist shot between Joseph’s pads for his fourth goal in five games.

Radivojevic scored his first goal in 10 games by putting a rebound of Foster’s shot into an open net midway through the third.

Notes: Bouchard’s goal was his first point in six games. … Phoenix is 2-12 when its opponent scores first and 1-15 when trailing after two periods. … Minnesota C Pavol Demitra missed his second straight game with a head injury, and C Wes Walz sat out his second game due to a hip injury.

Quelle: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/1124coyotes-ON.html

LeNeveu strong in relief of Joseph

Jim Gintonio
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 25, 2006 12:00 AM

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Coyotes backup goalie David LeNeveu played the final 13:03 Friday, mainly to give Curtis Joseph a little extra time to rest before tonight’s game in St. Louis. LeNeveu came in with the Coyotes down 4-0 and shut out the Wild the rest of the way, stopping three shots.

LeNeveu, who has struggled to impress coach Wayne Gretzky, said he has to make the most of every chance he gets. He said he played with confidence Friday.

“You’re always looking for an opportunity, and every time you get one, you’re just going out trying to stop the next puck and give the team every chance you can,” he said. “I go out every day, whether it’s a practice or a game, and work hard.

“If I concentrate on what I’m doing, it’s going to contribute to the success of the team and myself . . . I want to be successful.”

He says he understands his role but also wants to push Joseph “to be his best so I can be my best.”

Gretzky, who will start Joseph tonight, said LeNeveu came through with a good effort.

“I was happy for Lenny,” he said. “He’s a good kid, and he’s worked hard.”

Getting angry
Georges Laraque said losing the way the team did Friday puts the players on the same page in one area.

“Everybody’s in a bad mood, everybody’s angry,” he said. “The only thing is, we should be more angry at ourselves than the situation because we put ourselves in that situation.”

Even though the playoffs are months away, he said it’s never too soon to be thinking about them if the team needs that goal as a motivation.

“There’s so much ground to make up,” he said. “We can’t be happy that day (with a win). We have to get back to work the next day.”

Wild example
Gretzky knew that the Wild, who have a 9-1-1 record at home this season, would be a challenge.

“Like I said to the team before the game, this team (Minnesota) is one of the hardest-working teams in hockey,” he said. “They’re extremely well coached (Jacques Lemaire), and they’re disciplined. They’re not going to be out of character, especially after missing two or three players like they were.”

Coyotes report
Cheers
The Wild played without three of their top players and managed to keep the Coyotes out of kilter for the majority of the game.

Jeers
Coyotes go 0-for-5 on power plays and give up a short-handed goal.

Our three stars
1. Niklas Backstrom, Wild goalie, 28 saves in first win as a starter.
2. Pascal Dupuis, Wild, short-handed goal.
3. Georges Laraque, Coyotes, led a quality effort by his line.

View from the press box
Haphazard and sloppy might be too nice of words to describe the Coyotes’ play for most of Friday’s game. Whatever momentum they had after beating New Jersey in of their best efforts of the season vanished. They need a win in the worst way. A loss tonight in St. Louis would be crushing for a team whose psyche is already fragile.

Quelle: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/1125yotenb1125.html 

Gretzky laments performance

Jim Gintonio
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 25, 2006 12:00 AM

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Dejected and frustrated, Wayne Gretzky keeps looking for answers.

And Friday, the Coyotes coach was looking for something - a few members of his team.

“You’re not going to be successful at this level if your best players don’t show up,” said Gretzky after Phoenix was humbled by the Minnesota Wild 4-0 before a matinee crowd of 18,568 at the Xcel Energy Center.

“Listen, I’m really disappointed in this loss. It’s one of the baddest ones we’ve had this year, especially coming off a good effort against a good team (3-1 win over New Jersey on Wednesday).”

Failing to convert on any of five power plays, giving up a short-handed goal and appearing out of sync for much of the day gave the Coyotes no chance at all. The Wild’s team effort on two power plays and the short-hander proved decisive.

The turning point for the Wild came when Pascal Dupuis scored during a Coyotes power play, giving Minnesota a 3-0 lead with only 2:03 left before the second intermission.

“It was horrendous, it was horrendous,” Gretzky said about that goal, and added that the game was “the most discouraging loss of the year.”

Gretzky’s frustration with the power play was merited. A couple of times the Coyotes failed to get off a shot, “and we didn’t even threaten to score a goal,” the coach said.

The short-handed goal also marked the end of the night’s work for left wing Ladislav Nagy, who sat the rest of the night. Asked why he pulled him, Gretzky said, “I think it’s pretty obvious . . . I didn’t think I was gonna miss his three goals this year in the third period.”

After the Coyotes gave up the first goal on a five-on-three disadvantage, they seemed to wake up some.

Gretzky liked that the Coyotes were “skating a little bit” and creating scoring opportunities. Captain Shane Doan said the most disappointing part of the loss was the inability for the team to capitalize on the momentum it had built against New Jersey.

“Special teams killed us, and when you do that, you’re gonna lose,” he said. “We just need to find a way to stay business-like in our approach. We can’t get too low now. We play (tonight in St. Louis), and we’ve got to be ready. We’ve got to find a way to be consistent, and I take it upon myself and a couple guys to make sure we have it every night.”

With several high-powered Wild players either sitting hurt or on injured reserve, Gretzky had a better scenario in mind: “It was an opportunity to seize the moment.”

The line of Georges Laraque, Oleg Saprykin and Michael Zigomanis provided the bright spot for the Coyotes.

Even though every loss digs the Coyotes into a deeper hole, Laraque figures this one could be a blessing in disguise.

“We always respond well from a loss,” he said. “We just don’t always respond well from wins. Hopefully, we got the message.”

Tonight’s game
Coyotes at Blues
When: 6 p.m.
Where: Scottrade Center.
TV/Radio: AZ-TV, FAN-AM (1060).

BLUES UPDATE: Keith Tkachuk gets ready to take the ice against the Coyotes, a team he once captained. He leads St. Louis in scoring and is tied for second in penalty minutes. Lee Stempniak and Martin Rucinsky have also been key point producers. The Blues could be vulnerable against a team that desperately needs a win. They played Friday night in Detroit to end a five-game road trip.

Quelle: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/coyotes/articles/1125yotegamer1125.html

Bild des Tages:

CuJo - der Blick sagt irgendwie alles.

Heute geht es schon weiter, in St. Louis trifft man auf die Blues. Den GDT von HFBoards gibts leider noch nicht, wird aber nachgereicht.

Viel Glück in St. Louis…

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GFHL: Überraschende Umstellungen bringen Sieg!

25.11.2006 von Coyote.

Kurz vor dem Spiel gegen die Buffalo Sabres entschied sich das Trainergespann der Phoenix Coyotes, John Tortorella und Wayne Gretzky, das Lineup doch ein wenig mehr durcheinander zu würfeln. Und das mit Erfolg! In Buffalo feierten die Coyoten ein 5:4 - Sieg. Die Tore erzielten Derek Morris (Lehtinen), Rod Brind’Amour (Nagy, Zubov), Mike Comrie (Reinprecht, Doan), Ladislav Nagy (Brind’Amour, Lehtinen) und Ossi Vaananen (Handzus, Johnson).

Boxscore 

Die Reihen der Coyotes waren:

Nagy - Brind’Amour - Lehtinen
Reinprecht - Comrie - Doan
Handzus - Morrison - Johnson
Isbister - Zigomanis - Sjostrom

Morris - Zubov
Mara - Boynton
Vaananen - Michalek

Belfour

Morgen schon geht es weiter für die Coyoten. Gegner sind die Boston Bruins, gegen die man, wenn es denn normal läuft, zwei Punkte einplanen kann.

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