A lot of smoke coming out of Darcy Kuemper’s red-hot pads has the Coyotes tied for first place in the Pacific. Hard looks in mirrors are being taken by Phil Kessel, who has just six goals, and Oliver-Ekman Larsson, who can’t put the puck in the Grand Canyon. Still, here is Arizona, 18-10-4 following a comeback shootout win in Chicago that closed a 6-point, 4-game, trip.

No wonder that Coach Rich Tocchet, when asked how he characterizes his team, replies, “I would say resilient.

“We have had some bad efforts but the next night we have found a way to win. These guys can flush a bad game down the toilet. Whatever I give them the next practice or game they are focused.

“Young guys sometimes hold on to it, get stressed out. But for whatever reason they have done a nice job of letting it go.”

The Coyotes don’t let teams go in the defensive zone, that’s for sure. Kuemper made some big saves last week in Philadelphia, where the Flyers were either a little luckless or errant around the goal, but maybe that was fatigue from having to work so hard to create chances. Tocchet’s team doesn’t break down, at least not easily.

It is true, as the coach noted in declaring his goalie the first, second and third star of consecutive wins at Nationwide and Wells Fargo, that the total of nine Arizona shots put up in the first 45 minutes of the Philadelphia game is no way to win. But the Coyotes peppered Pittsburgh with 33 the following night only to lose, 2-0,

So it goes sometimes when it doesn’t go in, which it doesn’t enough for a young Arizona team to be a Cup threat yet, why GM John Chayka is among those sniffing around about what it would take to get Taylor Hall. Meanwhile, Tocchet tries to get the stink out of Ekman-Larsson’s and Kessel’s games.

The Coyotes have a good third-line center, Derek Stepan, playing on the first unit, the first declaration of their neediness. Kessel is only 159 straight games from becoming the most durable player in NHL history, kind of a hollow honor if there are games he shouldn’t have been playing, always a subjective call and sometimes a selfish one.

Kessel has been nursing a groin pull while Tocchet, who essentially was the guy’s private coach in Pittsburgh, tries to squeeze some production in support of the 25th ranked offense in the NHL

“You have to treat each player differently and Phil is the epitome of that,” says the coach.

It is absolutely true that Kessel is loved by fans – the ovation that accompanied the video montage upon his return to Pittsburgh was heartfelt–and his dry sense of humor has made him well liked in locker rooms. Coaches have been less embracing but Kessel has been traded back into nurturing hands.

It kind of reminds us of the Blondie comic strip where Dagwood is in the pet store, inquiring about the species of an exotic bird. “That’s a ring-tailed night screecher,” says the store owner.

“Why would anyone want a pet that screeches all night?” asks Dagwood.

“If you really love him, you learn to overlook his faults,” says the owner.

Kessel doesn’t do windows, or give many into his soul. He gave no interviews before his return game to Pittsburgh, except to Arizona television. Easy, this winger was not in Boston and Toronto, too. Why did Tocchet want him?

“Personality in the room, street credibility from winning,” says the coach. “One thing I like about Phil is that no matter how big the moment–and for us big is where we are now, fighting for a division lead–he always is the same way.

“No roller coaster of emotions. He’s always Phil. We need a guy who is always Phil., a big gamer. I wanted that player in our locker room.”

At the risk of the underachieving Alexander Galchenyuk, who will get no video montage when the Penguins visit Gila River, and Pierre-Oliver Joseph, a defenseman the Coyotes seem to have in supply, it was worth a shot. Scorers who have 77 points in 87 playoff games don’t grow on sagebrush.

“Phil has done some uncharacteristic things that I had not seen from him before,” said Tocchet. “He’s not a play maker, just a shooter.

“Got to get back to shooting the puck. High, low or corner he’s trying to be too precise.”

Estimations of what is going on with Ekman-Larsson are anything but precise. But It is reasonable to assume he is too good a player not to get over this and that some of the kids up front will grow some hands along with some confidence.

Another expectation is that Kuemper will continue to keep the Coyotes in games.
A heretofore career backup now is in Year Two of outplaying a lot of goalies of higher reputation, which suggests this is not just a hot streak. A .935 save percentage is following up last year’s .925, both well over the .910 Kuemper recorded in his Minnesota years.

“A couple games after Antti Raanta got hurt last year in December, Darcy was playing just okay,” said Tocchet. “He asked for a meeting with our GM to say, ‘I have to play better.’

“It was almost like a light bulb clicked on. His work habits changed. This was his opportunity and he said ‘I had better be ready to go.’

“The swagger is there. When he lets in a bad goal, he tells the defensemen ‘sorry.’ and goes back to his business. Maybe in the past a bad goal early would rattle him, I don’t know, but I don’t see the rattle now. If I missed a chance, I’d go to the bench beating myself up but he’s very calm. I think the young guys feed off that.

“Good, happy-go-lucky, kid. He and Raanta are very low maintenance. Sometimes goalies are. . . well, you know.”

This much we do know: There seems to be solidity at last within the NHL’s most forsaken franchise. New majority owner Alex Meruelo, who started with a single pizza shop and built a food empire, seems to understand the concept of brick-by-brick, even if he doesn’t yet know hockey as much as he will. Kuemper aside, the Coyotes are no longer a suppository for guys who need a new lease on life. Plus we hear less now about the lease at Gila River Arena; hallelujah to that.

Chayka the boy wonder analytics GM, and Tocchet, the old school blood and guts coach with a heart, have an excellent working relationship. Actually, the history of the GMs and coaches in Arizona is not as tumultuous as that of ownership, but you have to like the stability. Chayka, who owns Wendy’s franchises, doesn’t seem desperate to cook the team as fast as the burgers. It takes a few drafts. Jakob Chychrun somehow fell to 16th, great luck and good homework.

“John is great,” said Tocchet. “I probably talk to him three times a day.

“We started 0-10-1 two years ago. What the hell did I get myself into? He pulled me aside and said, ‘I don’t want you to change your practices or your system or philosophy. Stay with it. I like what you are doing here.

“Sometimes GMs give you the ‘Hey, what’s going on, you gotta play more defensively.’ It helps to have that boost of confidence. It’s fun to have stability.”

It would be even more fun for an abused fan base–one good playoff run since arrival from Winnipeg in 1995-96–to see their team in the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons. From improvement of 70 points to 86, from missing the playoffs by 25 points in 2017-18 to last year by four, it is clear Tocchet know what he is doing, but he can’t score the goals.

Wanted: A ‘Yote of Note, such as Hall. In the meantime, Tocchet’s job is to coach.

“It going to come from the guys we have,” he said. “(Clayton) Keller and Phil have the capability to score more.

“(Nick) Schmaltz is probably the most talented guy on the team for making plays and is only going to get better. Brad Richardson scored 19 goals last year. (Christian) Dvorak is a solid guy, going to be a good player.

“So we’ve got guys capable of scoring. The good thing is we’re winning and they are believing in what we are doing.”

Join the Discussion: » 0 Comments » Post New Comment

» The Penguins Suck it Up

» More Than Ever, the Winner Will Earn It

» We Have a Right to Know

» It's a Good Plan, but Only for This Time

» Taking a Shot Before There's a Shot