Five For Howling

Phoenix Coyotes Injury Report: Post Playoffs

2012-05-24T21:47:19Z

As we all know when there is still hockey to play teams and players are usually very tight lipped about their injuries and players are more willing to hide their injuries and play through them. Now that the Coyotes are officially in their off season the organization released the names of some players who have been playing through injuries, some players played multiple games with multiple injuries. General Manager Don Maloney talked about the injuries and he said that nothing was really serious in terms of breaks but some players are pretty banged up. Thankfully Michal Rozsival did not suffer a serious injury from the late hit that Dustin Brown delivered towards the end of Game 5, the rest of the injuries are after the break.

Martin Hanzal: Injured ribs, there is also speculation that he may need surgery according to Don Maloney
Shane Doan: Hip injury
Adrian Aucoin: Both groins
Ray Whitney: Back, apparently injured several weeks ago
Lauri Korpikoski: Injured knee, elbow, and concussion from the Chicago series, he apparently played 7 games with a concussion

The Phoenix Coyotes Best Season Ever

2012-05-24T19:00:16Z

A hockey season that started on an ugly note in San Jose finished on an uglier one Tuesday night in Glendale. However, almost everything in between was exciting; even many of the losses. On October 8, 2011 just two periods into the 2011-2012 NHL season it would have hard to be believe the Phoenix Coyotes would have made the playoffs, much less the Western Conference Final series. On that fall evening in Northern California Phoenix's hockey club found themselves down 6-1 to the San Jose Sharks in a game they would eventually lose 6-3. Two night's later they would lose their first in series of thrilling (and heartbreaking) games to the Dallas Stars.

Though it was just two games into the season many people felt the Desert Dogs were the precisely what they had expected. An over matched squad who would finish out of the playoffs. After all the team had lost their starting goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov, in free agency over the summer. To make matters worse the Coyotes went out and replaced him with a goalie who had been send down to the AHL the year before after losing his starting job. It looked like even Tippett's coaching acumen wouldn't be enough to make Phoenix a playoff caliber squad.

However, less than a week later the Dogs had beaten a highly touted Nashville squad on the road 5-2 and won their home opener by blasting the former Atlanta Thrashers 4-1. Early in the season it became clear that the 2011-2012 would not shrink in the face of a little adversity. In addition to the heartbreak games against the Stars, they would lose a game in the final second to the Rangers and go into the final week of the season with their playoff lives on the line facing two teams they hadn't been able to beat all season. Every time they faced challenges in the regular season they found a way to bounce back.

Five days before the Coyotes season began in San Jose, an advertising agency from Minnesota named Fallon debuted their ad campaign for the team. The marketing slogan the agency came up was especially fitting for a group of players, many of whom had been let go or given up on by their former organizations. "Hockey the Hard Way" described this years Desert Dogs perfectly. Their play wasn't always pretty, many a night they were out shot or looked out manned, but they seemed to always find a way to get what they needed to done in the end.

At the time of the All-star break in late January the team found themselves outside of the top 8 spots in the West. In addition, they had traded their most offensively skilled center, Kyle Turris, the month before. While the season had gone better than many had anticipated and about what others expected, the players in the locker room expected more. In the first game after the break the team suffered a 4-1 loss to the last place team in their division, Anaheim. Their chances of making the playoffs looked dim. There was little sign that the month of February would be like no other in the history of the franchise.

The Sharks would once again in the Yotes season. On February 4th Phoenix beat San Jose 5-2. The Valley's hockey club would lose only one game the rest of the month, a hard fought shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks. The Coyotes went a 11-0-1 in the month of February. Not only was it the best month in the club's history it also got the Yotes back in the playoff and division title hunts. In the latter part of the month general manager Don Maloney acquired center Antoine Vermette in a trade with Columbus. Unlike the year before the Yotes were going into the last stretch of the season with depth down the middle. Things were looking up heading into March.

As glorious as February had been was as terrible as the first five games in March were. The Yotes gave up the first 2 goals in each of the contests. What made things worse was 4 of the 5 games were against teams who were in the bottom third of the league. The 6th game of the month found the Yotes once again facing the Sharks. San Jose, like in early February, was the cure to Phoenix's ails. The Coyotes won the game and spent the next two weeks alternating between wins and losses.

On March 29, with five games left in the season and the Coyotes again outside of the top 8 in the West, the Sharks came calling. At this point the four of the five teams in the Pacific division were fighting it out for 3rd and 8th place in the West. Once again, a meeting with their adversaries from Northern California was just the medicine the Desert Dogs needed. They won the game and then went on to win the final four games of the season. Two of those games were against the Blues and the Blue Jackets. Up to that point the Yotes had been winless against both teams. The five game winning streak propelled Phoenix back into the playoffs for a 3rd year in a row. It also gave them their first Pacific division title.First the first time in memory fans streamed to the airport to meet their heroes as they returned from the road after winning the title.

The Coyotes faced the Blackhawks in the first round of the playoffs. In a hard fought six games series in which the first five games went into overtime the Coyotes found a way to prevail 4-2. This was the first time the since their arrival in Phoenix and the first time since 1987 that the franchise had won a playoff series. At this point the season was an unqualified success. The Desert Dogs weren't finished making history yet. In the 2nd round of the playoffs the Coyotes faced the Nashville Predators. The Coyotes again played extra time in the first game against the Preds. Though they were outplayed much of the game they found a way to win it in overtime and then never looked back winning the series 4-1. Next up was the team everyone was buzzing about, the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings had already taken out the top two seeds in the West. Unfortunately for Phoenix they would be next. LA eradicated Phoenix's hopes of a Stanley Cup in just 5 games with a combination of a pugnacious forecheck and stifling defense. While some members of the team and fans handled the Yotes exit from the playoffs poorly there was much to be proud of.

In addition to the team's accomplishments during the season, Phoenix fans also got to witness amazing individual efforts this season like Shane Doan's first career hat trick, Ray Whitney's 1,000th NHL point, and Mike Smith's February shutout streak. And that was just the regular season. The postseason brought us more incredible nights of Mike Smith brilliance in goal, Mikkel Boedker's OT dramatics against the Hawks, Ray Whitney's OT goal in game 1 against Nashville, and Shane Doan taking the team on his back in Game 4 against the Kings.

The 2011-12 version of the Phoenix Coyotes will be remembered as a team that accomplished much more than was ever expected of them. Yet the image I will likely think about most of this year's squad won't involve any of the aforementioned team or individual accomplishments. The image I will have in my head would be of Mike Smith, Rostislav Klesla, Derek Morris, Boyd Gordon, and Lauri Korpikoski. These five players made up the team's top penalty kill unit for much of the season. The Coyotes penalty kill ranked 8th in the regular season in the league and never gave up a goal on the road in the playoffs. Their teamwork, self sacrifice, and skill embodied "Hockey The Hard Way".

SB Nation's Bloggers Select NHL Award Winners

2012-05-23T19:09:17Z

A number of the folks who blog at SB Nation's hockey sites got together and voted on seven of the NHL's regular season awards. Starting this past Monday and continuing on through next Tuesday the blogger tallies for the awards will be released. The trophies voted upon were the Vezina, Norris, Lady Byng, Calder, Masterton, Selke, and Hart. Later in the post there are links to the award winners that have already been announced, as well as the dates when the other results will be released.

Personally, I find awards, including those done by the NHL, subjective, capricious, and/or just plain stupid. The arbitrary choice of choosing how many finalists there are doesn't help either. However, you might believe otherwise. If so, click here to see who won the 'insert award name here' as voted on by SB Nation's community of hockey #Illuminati.

Awards winners already announced:

Vezina

Norris

Lady Byng

The rest of the schedule:

Thursday, May 24: Calder Trophy

Friday, May 25: Masterton Trophy

Monday, May 28: Adams Trophy

Tuesday, May 29: Selke Trophy

Wednesday, May 30: Hart Trophy

Raffi Torres Suspension: Coyotes Winger To Miss 12 Games Next Season

2012-05-23T17:43:14Z

(SB Nation Chicago) - Phoenix Coyotes winger Raffi Torres was suspended for 25 games earlier in the playoffs after a brutal headshot on Marian Hossa that has left the Chicago Blackhawks star concussed and with the future of his career very much in doubt.

The suspension started immediately, but as Chicago has turned to focus on Hossa's recovery, the Torres-less Coyotes continued to play on, reaching the Western Conference Final. But they were eliminated from the playoffs last night by the Los Angeles Kings, thus notching a demarcation in the timeline of Torres' suspension.

With the Coyotes having played 13 games since Torres was docked, he wil be forced to miss the first 12 games of next season, as pointed out by Chris Johnston of the Canadian Press. Johnston also calculates that Torres will lose a close to $260,000 as a result of the continuing suspension.

Torres has appealed his suspension, but no announcement has been made regarding any reduction to the ban. It's expected that the league will rule against him.

Coyotes Tracks May 23 - I Don't Want To Talk About It

2012-05-23T13:48:05Z

Coyotes vs. Kings Post Game News

2012 Western Conference Finals: Coyotes Season Comes To An End In A Controversial Game 5 Overtime - SB Nation Arizona

2012 Stanley Cup playoffs: Phoenix Coyotes irate as Los Angeles Kings advance - ESPN

Coyotes’ Mike Smith believes Dustin Brown should be ‘done forever’ for Rozsival hit; slams Game 5 officiating | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports

How The West Was Won: Kings Beat Coyotes In OT, Advance To Cup Final - SBNation.com

Does Dustin Brown deserve a suspension for hit on Michal Rozsival? | ProHockeyTalk

Kings Edge Coyotes 4-3 in Overtime to Win West - ABC News

Chirbit - Shane Doan after Game 5 - MikeJackBauer

Dave Tippett Press Conference Video - NHL VideoCenter - Phoenix Coyotes

More links after the jump...

Coyotes News

Phoenix Coyotes' future looks bright after playoff breakthrough - AZCentral
During this playoff journey, the Coyotes shed their terrible past. They no longer carry a stigma, a team that went 25 years without winning a playoff series.

Glendale council takes 1st step in Coyotes sale - FSAZ
The Glendale City Council has approved a preliminary budget in order to extend the Jobing.com Arena lease.

Pirates News

'Wish list' for Civic Center renovation may shrink | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Civic center trustees must decide whether to include luxury seating and a Pirates' locker room in the upgrade.

The Final Howls

A photographic exploration in reactions to a L.A. Kings win | Backhand Shelf | Blogs | theScore.com

A tribute to the Phoenix Coyotes’ abundant talent | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports

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Coyotes @ Kings - WCF Game 5 Gamethread - Want to Go Back to LA.

2012-05-23T00:00:20Z

Next Game

Los Angeles Kings @ Phoenix Coyotes

Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 6:00 PM MST
Jobing.com Arena

WCF: Los Angeles Kings @ Phoenix Coyotes Game 5: Time To Do It Again

posted by Dude, The about 2 hours ago

1 comment | 0 recs

Complete Coverage >

One Game, One Period, One Battle. Let's Go Coyotes.

Tonight's musical selection: Eagles of Death Metal - Wanna Be in LA. (Because we want to be on Thursday.)

WCF: Los Angeles Kings @ Phoenix Coyotes Game 5: Time To Do It Again

2012-05-22T20:56:34Z

Two days ago the Phoenix Coyotes handily avoided being eliminated by the LA Kings with a 2-0 victory in Los Angeles. If the Coyotes are going to stave off elimination again they are going to need to win tonight, remember everyone that the series isn't over until a team wins four. Some of the sports pessimists will point out that the Kings have not lost on the road during these playoffs and they have yet to lose twice to a team, but the sports optimist will counter that that just means that they are do for a lose tonight. In order to get the win tonight the team is going to need Mike Smith to play strong again and someone is going to need to step up and be the hero like their captain Shane Doan did last game, and if they play like they did Sunday I can see it happening. Despite playing last game Adrian Aucoin will be a game time decision this game as well, he was good but it looked like he is still dealing with his unknown injury.

Five For Winning

1. Special Teams. The penalty kill on Sunday was perfect not letting the Kings get a power play goal, but their power play unit also came to play getting the first goal. Hopefully the Yotes can do it again, the power play goal was the game winner last time, no reason it can't be the same this time.

2. Shoot everything. The Coyotes have started trying some different strategies for getting pucks past Jonathan Quick, they used a rebound and a shot off the faceoff last game, and by doing this they learned that they can get something past Quick. The only thing they need to do is do that more, hopefully Quick isn't going to be a wall tonight.

3. Keep the Kings to the outside. The Kings are going to get into the Coyotes zone, its a fact of hockey. They are also going to shoot on Smith, the important part is going to be keeping them to the outside so they don't get quality shots off and they don't get any rebound opportunities.

4. Win the faceoffs. The Coyotes were great doing this during the first two series but they haven't had the control of the dots that they need to succeed during this series. If they can control the faceoffs then they are going to be able to control the flow of the game.

5. Just win. I don't care if someone has to take off their skate and stab Dustin Brown with it, Happy Gilmore joke please nobody stab anybody, but we just need the team to find some way to pull out a victory tonight.

Players To Watch

Ray Whitney

#13 / Left Wing / Phoenix Coyotes

Height: 5-10

Weight: 180

Born: May 08, 1972

	G	A	P	+/-	PIM
2011 - Ray Whitney	24	53	77	26	28

Ray Whitney hasn't shined during this series like we need him to but he did get an assist on Doaner's power play goal. Hopefully that's a sign that The Wizard ready to get things going offensively.

Anze Kopitar

#11 / Center / Los Angeles Kings

Height: 6-3

Weight: 225

Born: Aug 24, 1987

	G	A	P	+/-	PIM
2011 - Anze Kopitar	25	51	76	12	20

Anze Kopitar is a great player and incredibly annoying. The Coyotes need to neutralize him if they want to win tonight.

Starting Goalies

Mike Smith

#41 / Goalie / Phoenix Coyotes

Height: 6-4

Weight: 215

Born: Mar 22, 1982

	GP	MIN	W	L	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2011 - Mike Smith	67	3903	38	18		144	2.21	2066	1922	.930	8

Smitty isn't superstitious so he was able to use that word that described what he did on Sunday. I am superstitious though so it would be nice if something like that happened again.

Jonathan Quick

#32 / Goalie / Los Angeles Kings

Height: 6-1

Weight: 212

Born: Jan 21, 1986

	GP	MIN	W	L	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2011 - Jonathan Quick	69	4099	35	21		133	1.95	1863	1730	.929	10

Sunday proved one thing to us all, Quick can be beaten.

Injuries

Phoenix Coyotes Injuries

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Adrian Aucoin	other-excused	05/22/2012

Los Angeles Kings Injuries

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Scott Parse	hip	11/09/2011
Simon Gagne	concussion	12/27/2011

Remember to come back tonight for the Game Day Thread and possible post game coverage depending on how things go.

Stanley Cup Final Schedule: Coyotes Could Begin Series Wednesday, May 30

2012-05-22T19:22:50Z

(SB Nation) - The NHL has released the 2012 Stanley Cup Final schedule, and it will begin on Wednesday, May 30 in either Newark, N.J. or Manhattan. The Eastern Conference finalist New Jersey Devils or New York Rangers wil host the Western Conference finalist Los Angeles Kings or Phoenix Coyotes.

Home ice in the Final is determined by regular season points totals. The Rangers finished the season atop the East with 109 points while the Devils finished the season with 102 points, good for the No. 6 seed. The Coyotes finished the season with 97 points, good for the No. 3 seed in the West as Pacific Division champs, while the Kings finished with 95 points, good for the No. 8 seed.

The full schedule:

Gm	Date	Time	Location	TV Network
1	Wed, May 30	8 p.m. ET	West at East	NBC, CBC, RDS
2	Sat, Jun 2	8 p.m. ET	West at East	NBC, CBC, RDS
3	Mon, Jun 4	8 p.m. ET	East at West	NBCSN, CBC, RDS
4	Wed, Jun 6	8 p.m. ET	East at West	NBCSN, CBC, RDS
5*	Sat, Jun 9	8 p.m. ET	West at East	NBC, CBC, RDS
6*	Mon, Jun 11	8 p.m. ET	East at West	NBC, CBC, RDS
7*	Wed, Jun 13	8 p.m. ET	West at East	NBC, CBC, RDS

Stick with SBNation.com for full Stanley Cup Final coverage. For more on the Eastern Final, check out Devils blog In Lou We Trust and Rangers blog Blueshirt Banter. For more on the Western Final, check out Kings blog Jewels From The Crown.