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Coyotes score once in 2 games: Is it too early to fire the coach?

October 6, 2019, 11:16 AM ET [24 Comments]
James Tanner
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Darcey Kuemper starts the season by allowing three goals in two games, and the Coyotes go 0-2 because they scored one goal in two games.

It's only two games, don't panic Jim!

But you know, this is exactly what we feared would happen. If your goalie holds the Bruins to a single goal, you should win the damn game - that's all there is to it.

The Coyotes have allowed three goals in two games, and should be 2-0.



What is inexcusable, is to lose games because you can't score, while rookie Barrett Hayton sits in the pressbox.
He may or may not be read for the NHL, but you can't tell unless you play him, and you really shouldn't be ignoring the fact that he is - at worst - the fourth most talented scorer on the team.

There is also the fact that Nick Schmaltz played 11 minutes, one of the lowest on the team , while Conner Garland played only nine minutes (5v5).

I understand that sometimes a coach will get frustrated with players and play them less, but the problem here is that these are two of the team's best scorers, and they aren't playing, and the team got shut-out.

You could blame Schmaltz for the goal the Bruins scored, because he clearly needs to be better there, but at the same time, it's counterproductive to punish the player you know is one-dimensional for failing at defense, when it's his scoring that has him in the lineup in the first place.

Then you have Lawson Crouse, beloved by the coach, and playing the second most minutes out of the forwards, and playing like garbage.

When Crouse was on the ice, the Coytoes got 30% of the shot attempts. Now, half his minutes were against the Bruins top line, but 1) half his minutes weren't and 2) is Crouse, Dvorak, Fischer really the matchup you want against Pastrnak anyways?

The other thing that pisses you off when you watch this team, is that they don't rush the puck. At 5v5, they were credited with a single rush in each game (oddly Hjalmarsson and Soderberg were the rushers).

You can't win hockey games if you don't ever break out of your zone and rush the puck up the ice.

Now, there were some positives in this game: The Kessel line looked good (although on the road where they actually have to face tough matchups might be problematic, as it's a worse first line than most teams have).

The heat map showed the Coyotes got better chances the the Bruins, they played one of the league's best teams to a 50% possession game where they (Az) had the better expected goals and scoring chances.

All in all, there's probably a lot of positive things to take away from this game, but the exact problem that cost the team last year (no scoring despite league leading goaltending) has already manifested itself, and that definitely cuts into the positivity.

Also, Ekman-Larsson has to be better, he's been el garbagio for both these games.

In other news, the Coyotes recalled Raanta. He got a shut-out in his AHL rehab game and even though it makes no sense to sit Kuemper until there's a back-to-back, they probably will because if there's a thing that makes no sense to anyone else, Rick Tocchet will do it.

I hate to be so negative about this game, because Coyotes vs Bruins with a the Coyotes losing 1-0 is almost like win, and the team will score if they play like this.

But at the same time, it's hard to have faith in the law of averages, when the coach sits or doesn't play his best offensive players, with the Coyotes lack of finishing ability dating back to a heartbreaking end of season run that saw them miss the playoffs because - despite Vezina level goaltending - they scored four goals on a make-or-break four game roadtrip.

Factor in the lack of rushes, and the power-play that looks like it's coached by a sentient goat and it's just too hard to feel like this team is suddenly going to be good.
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