Coyotes-Blues Preview
By Dave Vest
ST. LOUIS – The Coyotes will conclude a brief yet hectic three-game road trip tonight with a game against the St. Louis Blues at the Scottrade Center.
Both teams won road games on Wednesday; Phoenix beat Columbus 4-1 and St. Louis beat Carolina 5-2.
With their victory, in which four different players scored a goal, the Coyotes upped their road record to 4-2-0.
"We just have to worry about us," Coyotes defenseman
Zbynek Michalek said. "If we play good I think we have a chance to beat any team right now. We just have to play good defensively and go from there...They're going to be coming at us very hard and we have to stay disciplined."
Starting goalie
Ilya Bryzgalov, who watched backup
Jason LaBarbera stop 31 of 32 shots on Wednesday, will return to the Phoenix net vs. the Blues.
St. Louis has won just once in three tries at the Scottrade Center this season.
"The bottom line is we just haven't been very good at home," Blues Head Coach Andy Murray told reporters on Wednesday. "All the arenas are all new and all generic. You don't have a lot of differences. So, to me, there isn't a real home advantage for a lot of the teams."
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| Winnik |
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Coyotes fourth-liner Daniel Winnik has been turning heads lately with extra hustle and aggression and its paying off in the scoring summary. Winnik has three assists in the past two games. |
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| Perron |
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Blues left wing David Perron, the 26th overall pick of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, has notched six points in the past three games, including two goals and an assist on Wednesday vs. Carolina. |
- This game marks the second in a back-to-back situation for the Coyotes this season. Phoenix is 2-0 in the first game (wins at Pittsburgh on Oct. 7 and at Columbus on Oct. 28) and 0-1 in the second (at Buffalo on on Oct. 8).
- Phoenix is hot on the power play with three goals in its past six chances. St. Louis is ice cold at 0 for 17.
- Coyotes Head Coach Dave Tippett is encouraging scoring by committee. "The challenge with that is to make sure the committee shows up every game," Tippett told reporters on Wednesday, only half-jokingly.
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Coyotes
Blues
