Mueller has big night
The Coyotes have now gone 8-5 vs the Pacific, with 3 losses against the Sharks, as they beat L.A. 4-1 in Glendale AZ. Peter Mueller was put back on a line with Steven Reinprecht, who had a goal and an assist, and Shane Doan, who added an empty net goal and a strong 2 way game. Doan played the LW, while Mueller patrolled the RW.
Mueller made a strong defensive play just outside the King’s blueline that resulted in Reinprechts goal in the 1st period and then set up Ed Jovonovski for the shot from the point on the PP and that resulted in Radim Vrbata’s goal to make it 2-0. Mueller scored his 8th goal of the season in the 2nd to make it 3-1 and Doan scored into the empty net in the final minute to seal the win. The Coyotes are now 12-14-0 and bounced back nicely from the tough 0-4 road trip.
Ilya Bryzgalov was sharp again in goal, and has now gone 3-0 vs the King’s since he was plucked off the waiver wire. He made tough saves look easy, and while the King’s came out strong, he silenced them with some brilliant saves.
I talked about how the “D” needs to be more active offensively and they received 2 assists from Nick Boynton and 1 from Jovo as the D now has 40 point s total for the season.
For Boynton, it was his 99th and 100th NHL points.
The scratches were Mathius Tjarnqvist and Mike York, who was banged up from a shot block at Pittsburgh. Craig Weller was back in the lineup.
The Coyotes get set for the Sharks on Friday, where I will be between the benches, and Dave Strader will be up in the booth for the game. Todd Walsh will be the reporter, as always, on our FSN AZ show.
On a personal note, my many thanks to Hockey Canada’s Bob Nicholson for personally handing me a gold medal from the IIHF World Championships from this past April. They certainly think of everyone, and although I was not worthy, I am greatly humbled and thankful. Hockey Canada does it like no other. Thanks Bob and Steve.
