A Great Weekend in Coyotes Country

Panthers @ Coyotes

Hockey Night in Phoenix saw the Coyotes take on the Florida Panthers at Jobing.com arena in Glendale for the teams' first and only game of the season. The Panthers got the scoring started in the first with a wrister from Richard Zednik assisted by Ville Peltonen & former Coyote Nick Boynton. Boyton was sent to Florida with Keith Ballard over the summer in exchange for center Olli Jokinen. The score stayed at 1-0 Panthers through-out the first with the Coyotes out shooting the Panthers 14 to 8.

The Coyotes woke up in the second with a beautiful wrist shot from Peter Mueller assisted by Olli Jokinen and Keith Yandle. Later in the 2nd came a goal by rookie Mikkel Boedker assisted by Daniel Winnik and Keith Yandle. They clenched the victory in the 3rd with an unassisted goal by Olli Jokinen and then another by Mikkel Boedker, Martin Hanzal getting the assist on that one.

Quite a few nteresting things to note about the match-up....

• *The only Coyotes penalty for the night was a 2 minute minor for too many men on the ice, served by Steven Reinprecht. The Panthers' Brian McCabe spent the night attempting to provoke the Coyotes Daniel Carcillo. Carcillo kept his cool, McCabe sat in the box twice.
  
• *This was Olli Jokinen's first meeting with his former team since being traded to the Coyotes over the summer. Jokinen was voted the first star of the game by fans at Jobing.com Arena. 2nd Star: Mikkel Boedker, 3rd Star: Keith Yandle. Defenseman Keith Yandle sat out the last 4 games as a healthy scratch. He came back Saturday night with a vengeance.
  
• *Panthers head coach Peter DeBoer was Boedker's coach last year when he played for the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL.
  
• *Gretzky & Co. tried hard to set up a hat trick for Boedker at the end of the third. Good attempt, but the puck couldn't find the back of the net. Shout-out to Brian McCabe who took a puck to the face and a puck to the crotch at the end of the third after Panther's goaltender Tomas Vokoun was pulled to allow for an extra attacker on the ice. He saw the Coyotes setting up that hat trick for Boedker and he made it his mission to not allow it to happen. Kudos McCabe, your pretty hardcore...
  
• *After the Panthers game, the Coyotes had gone 4 straight games without allowing a power-play goal.
  
• *The game marked Kurt Sauer's 300th career NHL game. Way to go Kurt!

Sharks @ Coyotes

The odds were stacked against the Coyotes as they returned to Jobing.com Arena Sunday night to take on the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks are one of the best teams in the NHL right now, the Coyotes were playing their second of a back to back game weekend & they were taking on goaltender Brian Boucher; who had only allowed only one goal in 3 games. Bourcher's record changed Sunday night. This game was probably the biggest test for the Coyotes so far this season; and they passed with flying colors. Or should I say flying pucks?

Once again, the opposition scored the first goal. The goal came during a San Jose power play, breaking the Coyotes 4 game penalty killing record. Dan Boyle scored first then Ryan Clowe followed suit, scoring on yet another San Jose power play later in the first. Coyotes rookie Viktor Tikhonov started up the scoring for Phoenix with his first career NHL goal. Tikhonov's parents were sitting across the isle from me at the arena during Sunday night's game. The look on his mother's face when Teeks scored his first NHL goal was absolutely priceless. I can't even begin to describe it...

Scoring Summary from phoenixcoyotes.com
1st Period Scoring
04:15 PPG - Dan Boyle (4) Slap Shot - Assists: Ryane Clowe (5) & Marc-Edouard Vlasic (7)
10:30 PPG - Ryane Clowe (9) Wrist Shot - Assists: Christian Ehrhoff (10) & Rob Blake (7)
12:07 Viktor Tikhonov (1) Wrist Shot - Assists: Martin Hanzal (6) & Todd Fedoruk (2)
12:34 Olli Jokinen (6) Wrap-Around - Assists: Zbynek Michalek (4) & Peter Mueller (5)
2nd Period Scoring
02:02 PPG - Peter Mueller (5) Tip-In - Assists: Olli Jokinen (9)
3rd Period Scoring 19:42
PPG - Olli Jokinen (7) Wrist Shot - Assists: Shane Doan (6) & Ed Jovanovski (1)

The Coyotes will now hit the road for more back to back games, taking on the Blue Jackets on Wednesday and the Wild on Thursday. They return home to face the Dallas Stars on Saturday night. Which is a game that we here at home have been anticipating since the release of the schedule. Sean Avery and Daniel Carcillo meet for the first time...

Note:

• *Daniel Carcillo was struck in the face by the stick of Dan Boyle late in the third period. The extent of Carcillo's injury is not known at this time.

GO COYOTES!!!