Phoenix Coyotes on Verge of Elimination after loss against Detroit Red Wings 4-2 –NHL Play-offs Update
The Phoenix Coyotes has become the second team in the Western Conference to be thrown near the edge of elimination after they lost game three against Detroit Red Wings on Monday. After finally returning home, the Coyote crowd was hoping for a victory to
hang on to in the quarterfinals, now 3-0, but was disappointed as the Red Wings continued its winning streak, winning by 4-2 at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
"Today's a huge swing game, let's face it", Red Wings’ coach, Mike Babcock, said. "If you're 2-1 or 3-0, 3-0 is tough. As much as these guys are mentally tough, you're over there and you know it's 3-0 and that's a monster to climb".
If Phoenix wanted to win the series, they would have to climb back up and win four games continuously leading the series into seven games.
It is an extremely hard task to achieve and would make them only the fourth team in National Hockey League (NHL) history to do so.
The Coyotes are a team that can do it if they put their mind to it, but now it just seems impossible because Detroit is not slacking like they once were.
Detroit’s star goalie, Jimmy Howard, is a major factor for their consistent success. Making key saves when needed the most is his speciality and it has really paid off in the current first-round of the 2011 Stanley Cup play-offs.
He made 28 saves throughout the match, only letting two slip in, while Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov missed four times, making 30.
Another strategy that Coach Mike Babcock implemented was for his team to enter the match and score quickly and consistently. Instead of wasting time and taking the match into the final moments, he wanted them off to a quick start so they would not have to
rush things later.
That is exactly what they did.
Ruslan Salei and Drew Miller each notched their first goals of the series 44 seconds apart, taking a 2-0 lead in the first three minutes of the intial period.
Valtteri Filppula shocked the already tense crowd even more when he extended the lead 2:50 into the middle period. Filppula had a little difficulty gaining control of the puck which came to him on a loose pass by Jiri Hudler, but after capturing it he fired
it right through Bryzgalov.
Coyotes’ David Schlemko scored their first goal which gave the fans hope of a possible comeback but Johan Franzen’s goal in the first 25 seconds of the final period killed off any misunderstandings that Detroit was falling behind.
Ray Whitney brought down the score to within two after he scored the Coyotes second power-play goal but in the seven minutes that were remaining there was not much they could do following that.
The Red Wings missed out on over 10 minutes of penalty time, but that really did not matter to them.
"Those early goals take a little bit of the wind out of your sails", Whitney said. "We fought hard to try and stay in it, but they are a good hockey team over there and when they get the lead it is even more difficult for you".
Game four takes place on Wednesday in Arizona, which might be the final game of the Western Conference quarterfinals series for Phoenix Coyotes.
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