Apparently Cinderella traded in her glass slippers for some hob nail boots in game 3… after having her toes stepped on in game 2. The boots don’t look as good with the rest of the outfit but they sure as hell fit better. (as does getting back to Coyotes hockey)
Game 2, the Coyotes lost their ever loving minds and tried to fly with the RedWings. Well, they actually did a credible job for about 3 minutes and 58 seconds when they led the Wings on an aerial goal fight, leading 1 – 0, then 2 -1 and 3 – 2 in a high speed, high tempo charge. Problem is, the Dead answered every salvo with one of their own. It was amazing! Right up until Justin Abdelkader gave Wolski a lesson about watching your airspace in the 3rd period. Volvo got his pocket picked right in the high slot in front of Bryz by the wiley Abdelkader (who was brought in to give the Wings some physicality). The Captain answered right away to bring the game to a 4 -4 breathless tie. But then, like Icarus, the wax melted off our faux wings and before we could turn back into Coyotes, Filppula and Zetterbergh finished us off. Game 2 had a very valuable moral to teach us. We don’t have wings and we weren’t built to fly. (as much as we would love to be that high flying, shiny team, we just ain’t) Coyotes were meant to claw, scratch and dig for every meal.
Game 3, we threw away the glass slippers and the fake wings and the gaudy glitter of paparazzi spotlights. We pulled out the hard hats, the shirts with the blue collars and our beloved and worn work boots. And went to work instead of the ball.
Sami “the stun gun” Lepisto sent another Jet’s record to its frozen death when he snuck in behind the scrum in front of Jimmy Howard and jolted the Wings with the first goal of the game. (29 seconds is now the new franchise record for fastest goal in a playoff)
We lost our Captain early in the second. The Doaner decided to avoid obliterating Jimmy Howard who was sliding to the front of his crease in pursuit of the puck (I would hate to think Howie deliberately slid in front of Shane) but the Captain ended up jumping over the splayed Howard and tumbling hard to the ice and into the boards. It looked like his shoulder took the brunt of his gentlemanly instincts for another upper body injury.
Of course everyone assumed we were doomed. No Fiddler & then no Doaner… but the pack had other ideas.
The tail end of the 2nd period would be marked by Wojtek Wolski making amends for his game 2 give away gaffe. It was a beautiful feed from Lombardi and a really sweet burial by Volvo. (Don’t you just love the way that kid celebrates a goal?)
Having been trained well all season by a true Alpha in Doan, the Chattering Czechs went to work. Pesky Petr Prucha led line mate Radim Vrbata into enemy territory, dropped him a pass off the boards and headed for Jimmy Howard like a heat seeking missile. Vrbie returned the pretty pass favor and Petr Puck buried one of those highlight worthy goals. (usually we’re on the jeering end of those things but not that time) Vrbada bing Vrbada BOOM! I guess the scoring committee lottery number landed on Radim next as the Czech mates struck again within 3 minutes. (Howie would like all of the goals back but perhaps this one most of all) Pure sniper, no screens, no fancy moves. Just a mano y mano victory off another great Lombardi feed. (Has anyone noticed Lombo quietly racking up the points with multi-assist games?)
Game 3 did not finish quietly. The boys from Motor City pulled their goalie and attacked like wild animals. But nothing fights harder than a Russian bear in protection mode and Bryzzie and his loyal blueliners held fast to close game 3 with the 4 – 2 win, at the Joe with a 2 -1 series lead over the Detroit Red Wings. (No we don’t get to go live happily ever after)
We gotta play game 4 in that place too. We stole one back but can we steal another one? Our Captain won’t be back for game 4 but Fiddy will. We aren’t leaderless without Doan. Every member of the pack is well trained and ready to give their all for the extra minutes that will be required of them. One of my biggest concerns will be who steps forward and sets the physical tone tonight, since Shane won’t be landing on Red Wings like a wall of hurt. I also worry that the boys may forget again that the hit is secondary to getting control of the puck but the hits are keys to disrupting the Red Wings equilibrium.
To hell with keys to the game…The Pack must play Coyotes hockey -
*Control the tempo – do NOT allow Zetterbergh to ramp into SuperZ or Datsyuk to run and gun.
*Control the neutral – do not let them into our zone unmolested for those tiring pass fests they seem to favor, not to mention they want to turn Bryzzie into the main attraction of their shooting arcade.
*Grab every puck possession like your lives depend on it… they probably do. It’s not just about winning face offs, it’s about winning the corner battles and the loose puck battles too. The more we have the puck, the less time the Ded can execute all those spiffy high flying maneuvers.
*No painfree access to the net. Make sure to impede, entrap or entubate every wheeled wing in our zone. Holmer and Bert can not be allowed to park their big asses in Bryzzie’s face.
*Don’t let them out work you on any front. Make them tired just looking at you.
As always… Go Coyotes!