Why Phoenix Coyotes will eliminate Chicago Blackhawks in Game 5 -NHL Playoffs Special
Phoenix Coyotes have become one of the most dominating and dangerous teams without a doubt against Chicago Blackhawks in the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference Quarterfinal series up until now and winning game 5 to
advance should not be a problem at all.
What Phoenix has begun to love and take advantage of at the same time is not only taking the game into overtime, but winning it as well. Coyotes and Blackhawks have headed into overtime for all four matchups so far, with Chicago only managed to win one.
Mikkel Boedker has been amazing for Phoenix as the player scored his second straight overtime game-winner on Thursday in game 4 which put Chicago on the verge of elimination.
"We're used to playing long now," said Mikkel Boedker. "I mean, we've done it for four games [in a row] and obviously we'd like to not go to overtime. That's probably what everybody [would prefer], but overtime happens and we're just happy we won three of
them."
Now that Phoenix has their overtime weapon of success in the form of right winger Mikkel Boedker, they can focus on keeping the pace up until OT comes around for the player to strike at any moment.
"I think the [ownership] situation ... we have grown callous to, we really have," said Phoenix captain, Shane Doan, "We do recognize that is the situation we're in. We're not blind to it. We've grown callous to it. Then ... other things don't really affect
you as much, because it's just the way it's going to be."
Both teams at the moment are playing without a dominant player as Phoenix’s Raffi Torres was suspended indefinitely for his hit on Chicago’s Marian Hossa, who is also out due to an undisclosed injury at the moment after being sent to the hospital.
At the start of the series, it was a bad situation for Chicago as they were going to have to play without captain, Jonathan Toews, leading the squad, but with him back and healthy, Blackhawks still have not showed much success in their run for a cup.
Last season, Chicago nearly defeated the top Western Conference seed, Vancouver Canucks, a quarterfinal series that ended with a tight game 7, but now, they look like getting anywhere near that same situation is just a distant dream.
The aspect about Phoenix’s game that has given them a slight advantage over the competition is the fact that they limit the other team to less than two goals a majority of the time. Chicago scored a maximum of four goals in game 2 and was limited to only
two in the remaining three, which proved Coyotes have their defensive on lockdown mode at all times.
Losing Ilya Bryzgalov was probably the best thing that happened to Phoenix as it gave Mike Smith a chance to emerge and take the position over. Smith has become known as one of the best in the goaltending departments and has played extremely well throughout,
earning a .930 save percentage and impressive, 2.23 goals against average.
Conclusion
Phoenix has not had any difficulty taking down Chicago in the past three out of four matchups and being on a two-game winning streak in a place like the United Center, returning home for the deciding game just makes everything better for Coyotes in every
aspect.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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