Last Long Road Trip - Part II
Up to see the Avs about another point or two. Okay to continue the good cop bad cop… I mean good news, bad news theme. The good news is the Avs have been our whippin boy for a wee while and this trip is no exception. We end the night straddling 8th place play off fencing again. Woo hoo! The joy of that little feat was probably felt in several AZ counties. *oh yeah I was dancin in my seat* The bad news is that they made us work for this one majorly and we let them let them get a point off us as well. The horrible news is that we lost Hanzal with a shoulder injury very early in the game and the Czech will be out due to a shoulder injury for approx 5 weeks.
And the Walls Come Tumbling Down - Avalanche
It looked very much like a pushme pullyou in the last seconds of OT but the Yotes prevailed. This was a… you score (PPG - T.J. Hensick, Wrist Shot - Assists: Tyler Arnason and John-Michael Liles ) then we score (PPG - Peter Mueller, Slap Shot - Assists: Ed Jovanovski and Shane Doan)
Then we score (Daniel Winnik, Tip-In - Assists: Matt Murley and Niko Kapanen ) then you score (Ian Laperriere, Wrist Shot - Assists: Brad Richardson)
Then you score (PPG - T.J. Hensick, Tip-In - Assists: Jaroslav Hlinka and Tyler Arnason) then we score (Radim Vrbata, Wrist Shot - Assists: Steven Reinprecht)….
Then we score again (Radim Vrbata, Backhand - Assists: Shane Doan and Zbynek Michalek)…… hey wait a dam minute! it was our turn! kind of game.
But the whole thing was a scrum from start to finish. We lost Martin to a shoulder injury (he did not return and was flown home to Phoenix for medical attention) and we lost Vbrat for a huge chunk of this one too (Jovo rocket pass hits V in the ankle). But that shortened bench couldn’t stop a very determined Gretzky and he threw Murley onto the BigKids line with much success. He threw some line combos out there that I had never thought of when Vbrat also went down.
But the play of the game goes to Da Brat and his trusty wingman Rhino. Rhino faked the entire Avs team out of their jocks on a face off move that leaves da Brat all alone and almost as stunned in the kitchen. Vbrat actually fumbles the puck a second b4 pushing it across the line past a too-stricken-to-do-more-than-look Budaj. Tied up and ready for the OT madness.
THE scrum of the season with nearly every AV and nearly every Yote on the ice in a dawg pile in the Avs paint. Donor’s stick breaks somewhere under all the bodies, they look like a basket of puppies sans basket. The whistle blows et voila! the puck is in the net! SAY WHAT! 4 - 3 Yotes. The controversy continues even as I type. (anyone remember the Ducks game from last season? Cosmic karma… puts us on the other end of the hand pass situation. Karma is a bitch ain’t she?)
We got 2 points! Woot woot! and we hated to dine n dash but we ran the hell out of there and caught a plane to Calgary. Where we hoped to prevail over a struggling Flames team.
Damn! We Need a Bigger Fire Extinguisher! - Flames
We’re tired. We’re beat up. We’re down a couple of key elements in our arsenal. So we threw everything we had at the Flames early, hoping to get what we could and then hold on til the end. (it almost worked). The Flames outplayed us all game as we got slower and slower and our passes got uglier and uglier for them to pick off at will. Breezy took the brunt of it with 38 Flame’s sogs on the night compared to our 23 on Kipper.
In the battle for 6th place… up by 3… and we manage to lose in a shootout. *insert sounds of crickets here*
Yep you heard it. (cause you sure didn’t get to SEE it…@#$%!^&&*#(@(#* and just dammitalltohell) TV blackout caused us to miss one heck of a game. Jovo fought Iginla! whoa! Nellie and thank goodness for all the Youtubers and hockeyfights.com. Both guys get down seriously although Iggy did manage to put JV down in the last moments of the fight.
The big PM struck like a pissed off rattler. HATTIE! from the big rookie!
(Donor, Z and Perky all assisted the baby Yote on his most excellent effort) but unfortunately it wouldn’t be enuff.
Iggy and Frankenhead Phaneuf would rally the Flames in the 3rd to take the game into OT. (Phanny’s off speed stick breaker sounded crazy, poor Bryz! was all set up for the arm breaker and got the off speed slider instead…ughh) And Breezy stood on his head to keep the Flames off the board and into the shoot out. There were 2 exceptional plays in there with Jovo saving our bacon after a puck slid thru Breezy and almost across the line, Jovo then outlets that puppy to a streaking Rhino. Kipper barely manages to stop the close in blast.
The last seconds of the OT were barn burners as the Donor took exception to Phanuef’s antics and went to war… everyone jumped in but Phanny and Donor would be credited with the minor penalties.
Iggy saves the day. The big PM was out of missiles and the Donor apparently couldn’t make it due to a hand issue. I woulda loved for Fast Freddie to be able to pot one in the SO but much like the 2 points I wanted… I didn’t get that either. 3 -2 Flames final.
We stagger out of Calgary with a point and our butts firmly planted in 9th place… again. So, that was the road trip from purgatory… not quite hell, because we have 6 more points clutched in our grubby lil fists and still have a place at the table… close enough to get those mitts on a play spot if we just keep pluggin away.
GO YOTES!!!!
// Click here to read the rest from Hip Shot Blog
Join the discussion at The Locker Room Forum. Arizona Sports 24/7.
Posted by Hip Shot Blog
COYOTES HIP CHECK. Phoenix Coyotes Insight : Shooting Straight from the Hip.
http://blog.coyoteshipcheck.com/
(Rate this post)
Loading ...Related Articles:
